Friday, September 30, 2011

Halloween is coming early!

So I realize that it's not even technically October yet, but Buddy and I are all into the Halloween crafts already.
It's been rainy and miserable all week, so we definitely needed to find SOMETHING to do.
The most fun craft I think we did this week was our pasta skeleton!

All I did was trace a rough guide of a skeleton with chalk on a piece of construction paper, then poured a bunch of different shaped pasta for Buddy to use for the bones! He really enjoyed it, and it kept him out of my hair for a good 45 minutes :)



Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Baptism

Just because this is probably the easiest place to make an announcement:
Shiloh will be getting baptized on Sunday, October 23 at 10 am at First Presbyterian Church in Wausau.

This has been a long time coming and took quite a journey of faith for both of us! Anyone who is able is welcome to come, and hopefully we will do some sort of lunch afterwards for those family members from farther away. (It's perfect, because you'll be in Wausau anyway for James and Andrea's wedding on the 22nd!)

Give me a call, email, message on facebook, here... just get into contact with me if you're planning on coming! :)

Monday, September 26, 2011

Sleepy?

So, this new apartment is not without its flaws. For instance, there is 1 closet in the whole place. Which is my bedroom closet. Which, (hopefully understandably,) I really don't want to have to dig around in every time I need something.

So my landlord, being a sweetheart, agreed to build a closet in Buddy's room, which has only been used by previous tenants as an office. It's been about a month since we moved in, and we're almost done with the closet-building process. Doesn't help that my landlord has currently relocated to Chicago to work on some project or other... I don't really get it.

Anyway, he was over here all evening, painting and putting in a rod for the closet. Which meant that Buddy's bedroom was full of paint fumes. For all I know, that's poisonous! I'm overly concerned, worried that he will inhale too many fumes or something, so I put him to bed in my bedroom tonight.

Best part of the picture: hand down shorts. Of course.
The only question... now where do I sleep? Guess I'm going on the couch, there's obviously not enough room for a child to share his momma's full-sized bed.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

You All Lose.

No one followed directions :(
I am now refusing to post until I get some comments. I spend good chunks of time writing, taking pictures, and getting this blog together. I thought if you enjoyed it, you could at least take the 15 seconds it takes to say hi.
Do it! I'm on hiatus until you do.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Artsy Time

Buddy has been being sassy recently, especially regarding "screen time" (anything that involves staring at a screen, ie: computer games, netflix, tv and video games). So we've had a few "screen free" days in the house this week, which started out as torture.

But ended up in creativity! Buddy made this:
Which I think is super cute! (I admit, I helped with the eyes and mouth.)

And I made this, because I'm a nerd who likes to play with construction paper, glue and pipe cleaners :)
He has an angry mouth!
We are quite proud of ourselves, and it sent me on a spree of looking up fall/Halloween crafts, which I'm totally pumped for! So, hopefully, there will be more posted soon :)




P.S. - I've been writing this blog for almost 6 months now, and I think I've gotten 3 comments. I'm pretty sure that at least a few people read this, so if you're there... leave me a comment! It doesn't have to be witty, or heartfelt, or anything. Just let me know you're reading and enjoying, so I don't feel like I'm doing this for nothing. All ya gotta do is click the button that says "0 comments" (or 1 comment, or 2, or however many people actually followed directions!) Please?

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Minnesota, part deux

Grandpa and Shiloh
 I got sidetracked on my last post, I wanted to just give some fun pictures of our trip but I ended up whining about my kid. To be honest, we've had a really rough few weeks adjusting to school and our new apartment and  even less time with daddy...

But, here are some pictures from our trip!
Shiloh with Lego Woody at Legoland - Mall of America

On the carousel at Nickelodeon World

The seal does tricks at the zoo!

Spider monkey! We loved the monkey house :)


Baby orangutan! So cute!

Uncle Davey was fascinated by the monkeys :)

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Minnesota

This weekend I went to visit my brother, since it was his 21st birthday on Thursday.
Here's a picture of how his 21st went, just because I'm a cruel sister:
He's pretty sure he tripped over the sidewalk :)
We stayed with my Uncle Jim and Aunt Laure, who have a beautiful house that they're doing a fantastic job remodeling! Also, I got to sleep on the comfiest bed ever while I was there. So I may make excuses to get to Minneapolis more often, just to sleep in the comfy bed!

Buddy was a stinker, he's been going through a disagreeable period where he thinks everything is "BO-ring!" and wants to sass back to his mom, so we had a tough trip. I'm trying to figure out good ways to get us both through this thing without me becoming a nasty yelling banshee, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to set some new rules up that neither of us are going to like.

For example: On Friday, we went out to a nice restaurant with all the gathered family. Before we went in, I took Buddy aside and went over the rules: we talk politely, don't leave the table without permission, use good table manners, and eat our food.

He did OK for a while, but when his food came (spaghetti, one of his all-time favorites, and it was kid friendly and everything) he refused to eat it. And not even in a polite way, he was sassy and obnoxious and embarrassing at the restaurant. After numerous attempts by the various grown-ups (my aunt, uncle and cousin,  plus my dad) we ended up having to leave the restaurant.

This is when I become cruel momma. It was cold outside. He had been given plenty of chances to stay inside, but definitely had to leave. However, we didn't drive ourselves, so we couldn't sit in the car. I made my child sit on a metal bench while he shivered. And told him how disappointed I was. While he shivered. And reminded him that we couldn't go back inside because of his behavior, while he shivered.

Now, it wasn't that cold that he would have been harmed. I was outside with him, and while I was chilly, I knew it was fine. But was it cruel? I'm not sure. Anyone have further suggestions as to how to deal with an almost-5 kid asserting his independence in not-so-great ways?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Sick :(

Ugh, this has been a miserable week. I've been really sick, with body aches, stomach pain, and a fever. It really sucks being sick as a single mom, because there is no one else to pick up the slack!

I want to lay in bed and sleep, but Buddy needs to get fed. I want to just watch TV and whine, but Buddy needs to go outside and play. It hurts to move, but Buddy needs help washing his hair. It hurts to drive, but Buddy needs to get to school. I'm feeling so tired and crabby that I keep bursting into tears, but regardless of how I feel things still need to get done. A cold lunch won't pack itself, even if I have a temperature.

Anyway, it's been a horrible few days. And I have a test today, so I need to somehow suck it up (probably with the help of a lot of Tylenol) and get to class!

In other news, it looks like I'm going to have a new job! I should hear officially tomorrow, but I've been in the process of becoming a Youth Coordinator for the Boys and Girls Club. That job will start next week, and I'm really looking forward to finally having a job that I actually want, rather than just one that pays the bills. I'll keep everyone updated, but the last step is just a background check and reference check, and I'm assuming that will all go fine :)

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Splurge :)

My two new favorite things from this weekend: 

The amazing new necklace my dad bought me at the art fest!



Donkey Kong for the Wii. Amazing!
My life is now complete :)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

My Son, the Therapist

Today was a rough day. I'm not sure why, it seemed like everything that I had been worrying about all of a sudden fell on top of me and I just froze. It was how I used to feel back before I went through counseling, and took medicine, and did all sorts of things to learn how to deal with depression.
Well, it hit hard today, just for an hour or so, I'm pretty sure it happens to everyone. But I was worrying about a thousand things, feeling completely lost and miserable, and finally I had to go into my room and sob with the door closed.

After a few minutes, Buddy started to ask "what's wrong?"

I tried to get my composure back but it just wouldn't come. I quickly heard little footsteps, and my baby climbed onto my bed with me. He put his arms around me, said "It's gonna be OK, momma" and 'painted' my face with his hands, which is a thing I do for him when he gets overly stressed. I explained that sometimes Mommy just needs a minute to have feelings, and she was feeling sad right now.

He was completely calm, snuggled with me, and then said "Now momma, we're going shopping. Stop crying on my shirt."

And I did, we wrestled and played around for a little bit and then bought him the 2 sizes larger jeans he's needed for a month or so now!
Anyway, it's not his job to take care of his momma. But it's wonderful that he did this one time.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Our Late Evening

This happened yesterday:

It's way too late at night (I've been watching Fringe again), and I walk into Buddy's room to kiss him goodnight. I say "I love you, my baby!"
He says "I can't figure out what to do with the dish-pool!" (very upset)
I say "what dish-pool, honey?"
He says "the one the pirates are in. I might drive a ship against them, but it's like an adventure and I didn't decide yet."
I say "what's a dish-pool anyway?" (really interested in how kid's dreams go)
He says "a pool that's almost small enough for a baby to swim in!"
He then rolls over, puts the blanket over his head, and falls back into a dead sleep. I can't get anything else out of him.

I wish I still had dreams of pirate ships and such!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Finally Alone!

So, basically since I moved in to the new place, I've been bombarded with visitors. Which is great, and makes me feel loved and like I have some good friends... But also I need my alone time!

I've had at least 2 people stop by a day to see the new place. I also had some family staying with me all weekend, a friend stay with me for about half a day until he could get a ride somewhere else, and just... in general NO alone time.

Plus, this is the first real weeks of the new schedule for Buddy. He now goes to his dad's house every other weekend for 2 days, rather than every week Monday/Tuesday. And I'm loving the extra time, and the chance for  more stability for my kid, but I also am having to adjust to having even less time alone, even less time to try to be my own person. I think it's all going to be for the best and I'll get used to it quickly, but... for right now it's kind of a trial.

Anyway, all my visitors are gone now, and I'm really enjoying sitting around watching bad tv and reading (and blogging, of course) and I'm enjoying my alone time!

Saturday, September 3, 2011

We're All Family

This is another wedding weekend for the Burgess clan, this time for my cousin/good friend (two-fer, as our kids say... as in two-fer-one) who I'm super excited for. I don't know how much I've spoke about her on here, because I try to leave other people out of my blog in case they don't want their lives potentially out on the internet.

But without saying too much, she has found a wonderful man after getting through some really tough times, and thinking about her marriage makes me leak love-tears quite often :)

It's frustrating though, because some parts of my family are much more loving and accepting than others. So getting everyone together ends up making me feel pressured, and "not good enough", and like somehow the significant (at least to me) progress I've made in my life doesn't count unless I've finished school, gotten a full time job, gotten married, and bought a house.

Which is ridiculous! Here I am proud of the way I'm succeeding in my new program at school, the new apartment that is perfect for Shiloh and I, the fact that for the first time in a long time I'm not just searching for any guy who will have me and instead waiting for the right time (and person) for me.

But, none like your family to make you feel all at once judged and loved!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

My Baby's not a Baby!

This morning, I dropped Buddy off for his first day of school! He was so excited, he wanted to look extra handsome for his first day. So:

He made sure to be cleanly shaved, no stubble for the first day!

He combed his hair to "look like Grandpa's"

He wore one of his "church shirts" and would have worn dressy pants too if I hadn't talked him out of it!

He was goofy, since he was so excited!

And he left me! For his first day of 4K!
I'm not sure whether I'm happy, or sad, or anxious, or excited. But I'm sure proud that my baby is growing up!