Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Good Sport

Ethan attended a sports camp at the local rec center for the last couple of weeks. Although I was really into sports as a kid, I've never pushed it on my kids and I won't. I'll introduce them to all kinds of things and let them choose what they want to do. Ethan does have many talents and I wouldn't exactly call him a "sporto". But he's expressed interest in various sports lately so I signed him up for this camp. What you have to know about my son is that if he's not interested in something he's as stubborn as a mule and won't do it. So, the first day went awesome, total participation. The second day I dropped him off and ran errands at Target (next door, perfect opportunity) while he did his thing. I went to go pick him up and the instructor told me he sat out the whole time and refused to play. Ethan told the guy he was feeling "under the weather" that day. Very Ethan. Then in the car he's like "Mom, where were you?" I told him I went to Target. "You can't just leave me and go to Target, I was freaking out". I asked him if that's why he sat at out. He told me yes, so I felt bad. So Lilly and I sat in the gym and watched him in all his glory every day. Ethan participated but occasionally got a little off focus. He made sure that part of his exercise routine included break dancing in the middle of the gym while singing "Smooth Criminal" for everyone. The instructor kindly told me that I might want to sign him up for creative dance, they offer that at the rec. Lovely.

Ethan hitting a homerun




Thursday, April 10, 2008

Breakdown

I hope I don't loose any friends over this. It's been a really hard decision for me and one I've struggled with lately and told myself I'd never, ever do. But it's crunch time and I have no other realistic options to suit my needs. So, here it is. Sigh!

I'm breaking down and buying a minivan.

Please stop laughing at me. I don't want to be ridiculed or teased. I'm the same person I've always been, just a little less cool. I hope you don't look the other way when you see me or introduce me as a "friend of a friend". I will miss my sweet manual shift German station wagon that's been oh so cool. And believe me, I would love to get the Mercedes GL 320 CDI SUV but I just don't have 55K sitting around for luxury me stuff. So, I'm going Japanese oh yes I'm going Japanese I really think so, and getting this.

I think I'll be content, it's a pretty sweet ride on the inside and has all the bells and whistles I need and the price is right. Plus, you all can pawn your kids off on me more often now because I can fit up to 6 car seats in this thing. I'm officially a bus driver. Don't all call me at once now. I'll have a sign up sheet.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Baby Chic

I just thought I'd share some links to some cute baby/kid stuff. Some of the stuff is a little pricey, but I love to browse for ideas. The third link has some really cute car seat covers and accessories for baby/kid.

http://www.poshtots.com/
http://www.landofnod.com/
http://ctadb.com/

So, I'm trying to figure out how to arrange my kids rooms right now. We have three bedrooms upstairs including the master. My two kid rooms aren't huge, neither one has any growing room. Lilly's room is the smallest and it's the designated nursery. It has a crib, dresser and glider in right now and that's about all it can fit. Ethan's room is a little larger and has a twin bed, dresser, kid table and tiny book shelf. So my question is, what do I do with Lilly? We have a fourth bedroom in the basement, but I'm not going to put Ethan down there, he'd freak out. The new baby will be here in four months and it's a girl so I'll keep the nursery the way it is. I was considering putting the baby and Lilly in the nursery, but I don't think that's such a great idea now. Lilly will just be two when the baby's born and I have a feeling she's going to be very jealous. Whenever Ryan and I hold someone's baby or play with a little one, she comes running and says "My Mommy"! or "My Daddy"! and will try to tug on the baby.

So, my only realistic option is putting Ethan and Lilly in a room together. This just doesn't seem fun to me. I feel like I'm kicking Lilly out of her cute girlie room and throwing her in a boy room with her brother. I could just stick a toddler bed in there or buy bunk beds. I know the sleeping arrangement will be a nightmare at first (both of my kids are light sleepers and require a lot of sleep, I'm talking 12-13 hours a night), but I'm sure they'll get used to it.

The baby will most likely be in our room in a bassinet for the first 6 weeks of so. But I wanted to transition Lilly before the baby's born so she's not traumatized.

Oh yeah, I do have one other option: Put my house up for sale and find a house with 4 bedrooms on the same floor. Unfortunately, that's just not in the cards right now. Although I'm crossing my fingers in might be in the next year.

Any creative suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm sure I sound like the biggest whiner right now, a hundred years ago most families slept in the same room together, all 12 of them.