Ten on Tuesday

1. This weekend I spent most of Saturday celebrating Kari and Able's upcoming wedding. In the morning we had her shower at Abbey's, which was lovely and lots of fun. She got tons of great gifts and I think had a good time visiting with everyone. Then in the evening it was bachelorette party time. This was a bit out of my comfort zone of playing at home with little kids, but a good time was had by all and I might have rocked out some Brittany at the Karaoke bar with the bride to be. So much fun and so happy that my brother is marrying such a wonderful person. 

 

 Somehow this is the only picture I took at the shower.

 The bride and I!!!

 These were my companions at the Audi B's Party Table at the Karaoke Bar! Tracie is basically like a third sister in the Blakley family, I've grown up with her and loved having here there to celebrate with us.

 

2. Sunday was family day, after I missed most of Saturday with them. Zane asked me numerous times if we were going to do stuff "as a family." Can you tell I've been working lots of weekends lately? So we went fishing, sans hooks, but Zane has mastered the art of casting. He gets a little bit tangled up when you had the bobber, weight, and hook so we just let him cast and pretend. Not sure there are any fish in the pond by our house anyway so it was probably fine. Both boys got new Spiderman polls, Rowan's is just his size, but really he is more interested in throwing rocks in the water. He did love relaxing lakeside in his tiny chair. 

 

 

3. Sunday evening we went to family swim time at the Y. I haven't been able to make it there for exercising very much in the past few weeks, what with all the craziness of moving and unpacking. But we had a great time swimming. Zane practiced his strokes some more and seems to be improving. Rowan mainly shivers, but seems to enjoy the slides and swimming with mommy and daddy as well.

 

4. The house isn't really coming together very well. I have zero motivation to unpack things I know we won't be using anytime soon. I also can't get motivated to try to figure out where I want to hang things, so it still looks kind of like and empty shell of a house, but in good news I haven't been sick!!

 

5. This week the boys and I went to explore the little playground across the street from our house. We had a great time, pretending to be on a pirate ship. Rowan can't really climb up into it without help, but loves playing around in it and sliding down the slides once he is up there. When we were getting ready to leave Zane took a tumble off a slide, or possibly from the top ( I didn't witness the fall). I turned around when I heard Zane screaming and found him in a pile, on the ground, and it looked like he had broken his neck. He hadn't, but was very shook up, as was I. So went and sat by the lake for awhile. We threw rocks in the water, watched the turtles, and sang songs. It all ended well. The afternoons are way to hot to be outside, we so we been trying to enjoy the tolerable mornings, then playing inside during the August heat.

 

 

6. The new set up of this house is that both boys have toys in there rooms and then the second living area is just a play place. So far it has been working alright, though I still feel like there are still toys strewn about everywhere. Rowan loves that he has his own toys in his room now. He points at his little cubbies and giggles when I'm trying to put him to sleep. Ro is loving all kinds of trucks, trains, or really any vehicle he can drive around. And has become a master of his brother's mega blocks, which might need to be moved next door to Rowan's room. Have I mentioned he is getting too big!!

 

7. This weekend we are going to meet the Wamser clan for a mini vacation in Branson. We lived in MO for seven years and never went there so I'm really unsure of what to do. I am afraid everything is going to cost a million dollars, but mostly we are going to see Michelle so we can just play around our cabin in the woods a lot as well. I'm sure we will find plenty to do there and we are in desperate need of family time that is not filled with all sorts of stress. Hopefully we can try to forget about all that's happening (or not happening where our house is concerned) and have a great time! If anyone has good ideas of things to do in Branson with little kids, let me know.

 

8. Zane is switching classes at school and I think he might be struggling a bit with it. He had really connected with his three year old class teacher, Mr. D. It was a male teacher who he had really become close to and had kind of become the class helper. Now everyday he tells me that he is in the four year old class, but when Mr. D needs help he take his "strong muscles" to his class to help. So I think he still sees Mr. D. a lot, but is now in the Pre-K class for most of the day. He told me they learned the letter B the other day, "Mamma, I already known that letter for a long time." Great!

9. I now need to figure out how to start working with Zane on letter sounds and possibly work our way into reading. I have no clue how to do that and I feel like I never have time at home to do that sort of thing with him anymore. Hopefully life slows down here soon.

10. I'm getting pumped about OU Football season in Oklahoma. That also means that fall is around the corner!!!! Can't wait for some cooler temperatures. Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been 110 degrees here, but still too hot to play outside in the afternoon. "It's not Halloween yet... soon."

Rowan's 18 Month Update

My Ro baby is 18 months old and somehow still looks so little. I remember at this point in Zane's life thinking he was looking like such a big boy. Rowan still seems tiny. Though he but little he is fierce!! And by fierce I mean aggressive. You can't blame him really, if you have met his brother. However, his newest thing is that anytime Zane has something that Rowan wants he immediately goes in for a bite, a hard, sometimes draws blood bite. Sometimes when Zane is going in for a big brother hug Rowan will bit his chest as well. To be fair brother hugs can quickly escalate to body slams or look a lot like a body slam if you aren't really paying attention. Either way this is not a good development and it leaves poor Zane stunned that little Ro would try to hurt him, even though Zane hurts Rowan on a daily basis. Zane is getting better, but their wrestling and playing always crosses the line into the "too rough" territory. The new house, with slippery wood floors, has also been a bit of a struggle for Ro who has spent all of his walking life on carpet. They are a little tricky and have resulted in a few more spills and head bonks than usual. In adorable news he can say his equivalent to head bonk, rubbing his tiny head, if that tells you anything about how often he gets head bonks at our house.

On that note he is talking more, still not very understandably, but we get the gist of what he is saying most of the time. His best words, by far, would be shoes and no. No is usually drawn out into a very dramatic Nooooooo, in a sort of nasally little boy voice. He can say all sorts of other things such as all done, up, down, mamma, dadda, bo bo (brother, sometimes he makes a Z sound for him as well, but still can't say Zane), car, duck, cow, pig, dog. water (wa wa), juice, mine, and I'm sure many  more things I can't think of right now. He is babbling up a storm and has started to be able to repeat things that we say, for instance last night he repeated light when I asked him to turn off his light switch. The best part of his rapidly increasing speech is that he has started to "sing" with me at night time. He will repeat "boy, boy, boy" when I sing him his Little Boy song. He sings along to the other songs too just with his own little words. This is the point in time where I always thing "shouldn't they be talking more?" And then in a few months they will be talking in full sentences. It just takes about six months longer than I think it should. Zane does seem to understand his speech, or sounds, more than we do. He also does lots of translating and speaking for him like big brothers do. 

Ro is also learning all sorts of new things rapidly. Our most recent addition is animals and sounds. He can recognize cows, ducks, dogs, and pigs. Sometimes he can even tell you what they say. He knows his head, eyes, ears, nose, teeth, mouth, toes, and of course his favorite, his belly. So he is getting close to knowing all his body parts. He has found his way around the new house well and loves to "help" with unpacking and delivering things to different rooms. Zane and Rowan have been unpacking books and putting them on the bookshelf for a week now, but taking them down is equally as fun. Zane calls it his bookstore and Rowan is his worker. 

 Oh yeah, this month Rowan also started rocking the buzz cut. I think it's pretty adorable.

 

Rowan is securely in the monkey see monkey due phase of life that I am not sure ever really ends when you have an older brother. He is mimicking any and everything that Zane does. Left to his own devices Rowan is a very chill little man, loves to sit back and relax maybe play some itsy bitsy spider. However, his brother is not and Rowan most be doing what Zane is doing at all times. Zane runs around in circles, then Rowan follows. If Zane is running back and forth from the living room to the kitchen screaming nana, Rowan is right behind. Yes, that last scenario was what was happening the other night when I got some from work. When Zane tries to stand on the back of the couch and jump off, inevitably hurting himself, there is little Ro trying to climb up to. It really is kind of scary and I never get to enjoy my calm, cool, collected second child. I'm sure this will never really change.

I have found that Rowan does have a pretty long attention span for building and putting things together, again when he is not around his brother. He likes the mega blocks and all sorts of put things in, take things out, toys. He recently rediscovered his little pull along duck toy that mom got him for his birthday and has been frequently taking his ducks for a walk around the new house. He looks back and giggles, then says "quack quack quack" in 18 month old speek. He also has started sleeping with his stuffed dog, which is ironic since he is terrified of real dogs. He is much more into books as of late, especially his animals on the farm book that sings to him. 

Ok so I love to compare the two boys when they were at the same ages so here is 18 month old Zane compared with little tiny 18 month old Ro baby. I have no idea how tall he is or how much he weighs because I have yet to even make his 18 month appointment. I've been a little busy, we'll get there at some point.

 

 So to sum up Rowan is adorable, hysterical, maybe not so loving, but the absolute light of my life. Every morning when he wakes up and I see his tiny smiling face my heart if completely filled with joy. His tiny body, face, and sweet little boy laugh make me laugh all the time. I love how much he loves his brother and his daddy. I love the he will let me cuddle and sing to him every night now. I love that he isn't getting any bigger so I can pretend that he is still a little baby, even though he is becoming a bigger boy each day. Stay little sweet boy. You will always be my Ro baby. I love you!!

Ten On Tuesday

1.Words cannot begin to describe the stress level in our lives right now.  I will not go into gruesome detail of all that is going on. But suffice it to say that if we could get one thing to even go sort of well, not great, just ok, it would be amazing. All prayers would be greatly appreciated as ours seem to not be cutting it. Last night when I was well past my breaking point a pop up thunderstorm came through with some gentle rain. This was Dad letting me know he was watching over me I’m sure. I took the boys outside and we all waved high to Grandpa. Little Rowan Danny said “hi papa.” Be still my heart.

2. My days off have been full of unpacking and dealing with two boys who are going crazy without their mother’s undivided attention. There have been lots of arguments with Zane about why he refuses to play with the hundreds of toys I just unpacked, again. Seriously don’t know why we have them since he wonders around the room whining about me not playing with him. It’s very frustrating; especially given the amount of time I have spent packing and unpacking said toys this past year.

3. Zane was reunited with Rusty the stick horse this week though, which was very exciting. He quickly decided he needed his hair brushed; here are the results of that. Pretty hysterical. 

4. The boys have spent a lot of time looking like this, in a box. I think we have all the main stuff unpacked, now we just have to sort through the stuff we don’t use all the time/I don’t know where to store it here. There is lot of attic space we just have to decide what should go up there I guess. 

5. We took a break from the craziness to go to grandma’s Thursday. We had a jammed pack day of fun, starting with all the normal farm activities. Then after naps we headed to Leonardo’s (named after the Ninja Turtle of course) to see the Dinosaurs that we had previously seen at Otto’s house. They seemed much bigger in the smaller space. Rowan, who is terrified of dogs and more recently cats, was not fazed by the huge roaring dinosaur. I realized on this trip that Rowan has quite the attention span and loved to build things.

  Ro built this whole carbon atom situation and spent a lot of time putting pegs in this light up board.

6. After Leonardo's we had pizza and headed to the splash pad to cool off before the evening's main event, the little train and carousel rides at Meadow Lake Park. The Carousel is new this year with all newly restored horses and fantastic music. Zane met another little boy with his same name, Zane Michael, not Zane Able, which turns out was a close second behind Able when naming Zane. Ro road the Sooner horse and Zane got to push the start button since we were the only riders and the first ones of the night. It was a very long ride especially since it was only a dollar to ride!!!

7. Then it was train time. Both boys, and grown-ups for that matter, were extremely tired and dehydrated by this point, but we powered on. Rowan sat by Grandma and looked like such a big boy.

Zane cuddled me and I thought back to the many train rides I have taken with that little boy over the past four years. 

 

 I don't know why I thought this would be better in black and white, but I love it!

 Look at this serious little boy. And by serious I mean unbelievably tired!

 Love, love, love this picture of Rowan holding Grandma's hand.

8. Friday morning we played with Grandma a little longer then headed back to the city for more craziness at our house. I worked all weekend while Zach worked at fighting back the chaos here. 

9. This weekend is Kari’s shower/bachelorette weekend so that should be tons of fun. I pulled together a random present, not nearly cool enough for my brother’s bride, but it will have to do for now. The boys have matching seersucker suits for the wedding, which is hands down the cutest thing I have ever seen!! They need bow ties still, of course! Still no progress on what I’m wearing but believe me no one will care when I walk in with the two most adorable boys ever!!!! In case I haven't shown a picture of my brother and his gorgeous bride, here is one for you! Adorable!!

10. Today the boys and I sat around the house waiting for the cable guy (turned out to be woman) to come and set up our internet and cable. We have been off the grid for about a week and a half now and we are really starting to struggle. Spoiler alert, I'm writing this at Abbey's house because after my 9-11am appointment time, turning into the entire day, I still don't have internet or cable. I would be very upset, except it was the second day of this poor woman who ended up failing miserably. I left her sitting on the curb eating a sandwich. I offered her all kinds of things, not the least of which was to not worry about my internet at all! I hope she is ok and that we can get internet tomorrow!!! 

Here is what we did while we were bored!!

 Rowan loves shoes, btw!

11. Bonus of the day. Here is the look at the boys and I checking out our new neighborhood!

There are a family of turtles that live by and in this lake in front of a yard, which is a huge bonus!!!

Ten on Tuesday

1. First and for most a very Happy Bday to my besty Anna, whose birthday is today. We just had my birthday day of fun a couple weeks ago so maybe we can meet back up in a few months for some more fun. Hope you had a great day Anna!!
2. We are officially in the new house and completely done with everything at the old house, well one of the old houses. Yes, there was a period in time where we had three houses, that is less than ideal. The garage is full of boxes to be unpacked but I got enough unpacked Sunday and Monday so we can live. Turns out you don't need a whole lot. I am making big piles to be donated as I am getting really tired of moving stuff I haven't used in years.
3. I do love the new house. There is a little pond on the other side of the street in front and a little playground across the street as well. It is far enough North, out of the town, that we see the stars so it feels more like being in the country, even though we are in a neighborhood.
4. On that note, on our first night in the new house there was a impromptu firework show to the north of us. It was beautiful, though random, and I still have no idea what the celebration was about. I thought the firework stand at the corner might have caught on fire, but it hadn't so who knows. I take it as a good sign. I also take the fact that an hour after Zach took the last load from the old house a huge limb feel out of the tree by our driveway, right onto where our cars would have been. That house literally was trying to kill us. Glad we mad it out alive.
5. I do feel much better, allergy wise, as well. I have gotten two allergy shots also, but I think the fact that I am not breathing mold and God knows what else, all day has to have something to do with it as well. I have high hopes that this means I can feel good for more than a few days at a time.
6. For everyone who is looking for the weekly adorable photos of my boys, I can't upload any since we still don't have internet at our house and I'm typing all this on my phone. There is probably a way to do it, but I don't know how so they will be saved for next week. They are sitll adorable, don't worry! They are loving playing in all the boxes and sliding on our new wood floors!!
7. Zane is having some trouble, which is not surprising given the recent changes, but is still very frustrating. I have zero patience at this point, which I know isn't good, but there are a thousand things on my plate and I just need him to act like the wonderful, polite, little boy that I know he is. I don't like that he has to be in trouble, but he also can't scream at me, or argue with me, or any of the other number of issues we are having. When he gets in trouble that means less time I can spend with Rowan as well, since I'm dealing with Zane's screaming fits. So ready for everything to be back to normal.

8. We are planning a trip up to Grandma's Thursday to celebrate what would have been my dad's sixty fifth birthday. Writing that down makes it seem like it has really been a long time since he died and makes me wonder, foolishly, what life would be like had he not passed away. I told Zane that we were going to celebrate his birthday and maybe go camping, to which he said, "is your dad going camping with us?" As though he had forgotten for a moment that he isn't here. I of course burst into tears, sometimes it feels like it doesn't get easier.

9. Everywhere we go people have been asking Zane if he is going to be starting school soon. He thinks this is a crazy idea because he calls daycare school, so to him he is already in school. But to me this questions throws me into a panic attack everytime. The thought of him being in kindergarten makes me want to cry. I'm not ready and Zane may not be ready by this time next year. Maybe yes, maybe no. But for now he is just a very tall four year old who needs to stay with his mamma as much as possible.

10. Did everyone get a chance to see the supermoon this weekend? I enjoyed it from my beautiful new backyard, that has zero trees to impede my vision. It was gorgeous and a beautiful cool August evening. What a treat!

Promise more pictures next week, hopefully we will have internet by then.

The Big Move 3.0

We managed to get out of our lease, pack our entire house, find a new house, and get moved, all in the span of about ten days. I do not recommend this to anyone, ever, but we did it. I have been working the past three days so missed most of the big move on Friday, but was in charge of pretty much all the packing. The big stuff was moved Friday with the help of Able. I got a text around five saying there wasn't power at the new house, where we had moved all our beds and essentials so as to avoid another night in the house full of mold. That borderline pushed me over the edge, but I was working so really nothing I could do. By the time I left the power was on and I drove home to our new place. I knew it would be crazy when I got there and I was correct in my assumption. It's rough walking into yet another house full of boxes, random furniture everywhere, no idea where anything is, no food, and our lives turned upside down all over again.

Aunt Kari graciously volunteered to come play with the boys while Able and Zach tried to finish moving the big things before the truck had to be returned. Zane and Rowan were loving the entire situation, seemingly unphased by the insanity surrounding them, almost like they are used to it. I tried to find the neccesities and get beds set up in hopes of getting to sleep before midnight. I somehow located everything I needed for little boy baths, got them in the tub, only to find out there was no hot water. At that point we were committed to it though, so quick wash down for everyone ending in Rowan being devistated he had to leave his freezing cold water. The fridge arrived last with little food to put in it, but with the much needed milk for night time. Both boys were asleep by 9:30 which isn't bad, all things considered. Able and Zach went to take the truck back and I was left there in the silence, surrounded by the craziness. It is terribly overwhelming and less than ideal that all the moving was taking place while I was MIA. I had tried to be really thoughtful and pulled together, ordering new bath toys for the boys which were scheduled to arrive yesterday afternoon. Of course those weren't delivered due to the vacant sign that was apparently in our mailbox. Now I have to figure out how to track them down at an unknown post office somewhere. I can't win for loosing. I contemplated unpacking, or trying to find things I we need before going to sleep, but decided to wash my face and go to bed instead.

Unpacking, while working full time is going to be a challenge. On my two days off here or there I'm exhausted and all I really want to do is play with my boys. There are always errands that have to be run, appointments to go to, and all sorts of life that has to be taken care of. There is also always new things you have to buy when you move, even though somehow you didn't need them at the last house. I foresee us needing some more bookcases for this place, especially since the one from Zane's room was ruined by the water/mold situation in his room. If anyone has some bookcases you'd like to donate we would be happy to have them. Moving is always an expensive endevour no matter how you go about it. I'm ready to be settled and have a place where we can relax, be happy, and most importantly hopefully I can be health here. A huge thank you and we love you to Uncle Able and Aunt Kari for all their help, I know that isn't how anyone wants to spend their Friday night. It was greatly appreciated and why we moved back here, so we could be close to the wonderful, helpful hands of family.

Ten on Tuesday

 I wrote this yesterday, but was too tired to add the pictures before I went to bed, so just slightly late.

1. The packing is almost done, crazy how fast you can really pack everything if you have to.  I randomly am in the midst of a week off work that I had originally planned to spend doing fun, non stressful things with my boys. I feel like I never see them and when you only have two days off at a time there isn't a lot of time to just be with them since there are a zillion other things that need to get done. Needless to say that plan is shot, we are all crazy stressed out, and it has been a lot less than fun to say the least.

Moving does mean you get to do fun things like sit on the empty shelves, which is tons of fun!

2. I need to wish a very Happy Golden Birthday to my niece Maggie who turns five today on the fifth. She had an amazing frozen party on Saturday, complete with a visit from Queen Elsa herself. It was so neat to watch her light up as she put on her very own Elsa costume, wig, and crown. She definitely felt like a queen and I think it's safe to say she had a wonderful time with Queen Elsa. Zane on the other hand was terrified that she would "freeze him dead." It's a real fear since Elsa does have a track record of freezing people, creating snow monsters, and kind of being off her rocker at times. He warmed up to her though. He picked flowers from Abbey's garden, I thought for her, but upon further questioning he said they were for Anna, who Elsa said didn't come because she was home sick. How stinking cute is that???

 Yes, her cake was the north mountain with pieces of ice sticking out!

 Queen Elsa freezing the room with white streamers. Again, Zane wasn't too sure about this particular game, since he thought she might freeze him.

3. If it's Maggie's birthday that means it is also our wedding anniversary. Eight years ago today I was a just a little pup, marrying my college sweet heart. Now look at us, living the... dream?? At this exact moment things are rough and it's hard to really celebrate in the midst of so much stress. That being said I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband, who is an amazing father. Hopefully next year we will be in a better place to celebrate our anniversary. I'm really starting to think I want to renew my vows for our ten year anniversary, but not really sure how to make that happen. We skipped out on Maggie's family dinner and had a romantic pizza dinner all by ourselves, which was tons of fun. But don't worry we came back in time for cake 2.0.

4. Speaking of weddings, my big brother is getting married, NEXT MONTH!!!! I can't believe it and seriously there are a lot of days where this thought is the highlight of my day. I am so over the moon excited, even though I still have to find something to wear to the big event. Zane did ask me yesterday who Able was marrying. Kari, maybe we need to hang out more?? I have spent a lot of time trying to find suits for my boys, because they obviously need a three piece, seersucker suit with matching bow ties for the hour long ceremony. I will probably come down to earth about that at some point, but maybe not.

5. While I have been busy packing Rowan has found all sorts of new things, not toys, to play with. Yesterday this is how I found him. He had been having a blast with this swim diaper for awhile. I had heard him giggling but wasn't sure why. Today he somehow got the tongs we used to cook little sausages in the morning and walked around with them, grasping things for awhile. Who needs toys really??

 

6. I have started my allergy shots a little early since I'm so miserable as of late. I am going to go ahead and start normal shots for two months, then do the day of shots that should get me to my max level in a day. First one is tomorrow morning. I have my epi pen, which I thought would cost a million dollars on our terrible insurance, but with an online coupon it was free!!! Who knew?? Hopefully all goes well.

7. Friday I think is the official big move day. I will be at work, which is fine, and then Zach will finish things off on Saturday morning. Thanks to everyone who will be helping with this crazy fast move and watching our kids while I'm MIA. Then the terribly long unpacking process will begin. I'm thinking about giving away/throwing away a lot of stuff I don't want to store anymore.

8. This afternoon I took Maggie and the boys to the Ninja Turtle event at Barnes and Noble. We had previously been to the Batman event and met Batman and I knew there had been an Olaf event where Olaf came, so I didn't think it was a stretch to think that actual Ninja Turtles would be there. Of course this wasn't the case. It was just Ninja Turtle story time which isn't ideal for my son with a rather short attention span. He listened to one book then was over it. He did get something off the Ninja Turtle table that he has been wanting toys off of for a month, so not a total failure. He was sad about not getting to meet a Ninja Turtle, but "they have to fight crime mamma." So true!

 It was really cute to watch Rowan go and sit down in front of Zane during story time. Adorable!

 "Mamma, where are the Ninja Turtles?" He came prepared with his Ninja Turtle Party shirt.

 9. This week Rowan has learned how to recognize and say cow and knows that they say moo. Ro saying moo in his tiny little voice cracks me up. He also knows can recognize pigs and ducks. He is saying more things everyday and is getting closer to being able to say Zane which I can't wait for!

 10. Rowan also continues to be super attached to his binki and can somehow find it no matter where I hide it. I think his brother helps him get it out of the basket that is on top of his changing table. Or maybe he climbs up there to get it. Either way he has it most of the time and currently I have too many things on my plate to care about it. He also continues to not sleep great, either all night or up for three hours. Why are my children such terrible sleepers?? Who knows, but I do love his face!!