Just a little of what I've been up to...

Over the last year I have been working hard (sometimes unsuccessfully) at balancing being a wife, a mother, an employee, and an entrepreneur. I'm proud to have finally wrapped up my very first complete remodel, and I have to say I'm pretty excited about the results!!

I apologize for the before pictures... my originals were on my computer when it crashed and burned, so these are scanned copies of a few I had printed out.

And the AFTER photos-
Drum roll please....

Piggy Bank Birthday Party

Since moving Maddox to his first "big boy" bed, we have had to face a new parenting challenge- attempting to get two rowdy boys sharing a bedroom to stop playing together and GO TO SLEEP! As much as I love that they actually enjoy playing together, by 9:00pm enough is enough. Mama needs some peace and quiet!!

It's funny how God gives us little reminders... Last night, after a very exhausting day with a certain (let's call him) "temperamental" four year old, I was in no mood to negotiate. The boys had been bouncing off the walls for an hour rather than sleeping, and I was on a warpath. Yet just as I place my hand on the door knob to their room, feeling my last bit of patience slip away, I hear this:

"Maddox, it's my piggies birthday! That's why he's wearing a hat! We have to sing the happy birthday song"
(The "piggy" he's referring to is his piggy bank, which happens to be wearing a birthday hat left over from his party a few weeks ago, and is completely taped together with painters tape after suffering a devastating "accident" a year ago)

"Happy birthday to you..."
He sings the whole song and as he nears the end I hear Maddox, enthusiastically screaming and clapping,
"HOORAY BROTHER!!! HOORAY!!!!!!"

Jax- "Time to open your presents Piggy! You got a new bowling set!! Hooray! You've never seen that before!"
Maddox- "Yeah! Hooooray!!!! Bowling!!!"

At this point I realize (my hand still on the door knob) that all of my irritation has slipped away. I'm no longer angry that they're not sleeping, but instead grateful that they are playing lovingly together (like I have been begging for all day between pulling them off of each other kicking and screaming). I'm reminded that maybe a strict bedtime isn't as important as the bonding time that brothers have while playing pretend birthday party in the dark.

Exhaustion

In the wake of our fun filled weekend, we're all feeling pretty content to stay home in our sweats and play all day. It's safe to say we're all pretty exhausted!!




On an entirely different subject, my new cloth diapers finally arrived! I know it's weird, but I'm totally stoked! Seriously, how cute are these?

Birthday Bash!

This weekend we were blessed with sunshine, and for the first time EVER Jax was able to have his birthday party outdoors! Nolan makes fun of me because every year my birthday parties get more and more elaborate, and with the help of Pinterest this year was no exception! Even though I spent three days straight baking, organizing, running all over town, and was essentially on the brink of exhaustion the day of the party- it was a blast!

We had a few catastrophes... we showed up a little later to the park than we had planned, and when we arrived another family had already set up camp where we had intended on having our party. It would have been perfect... three tables under a pergola covered in flowers... BBQ's onsite... steps from the playground...

Sigh...

Alas, we relocated to the other side of the park, where we enjoyed a patch of dirt with tree roots sticking out everywhere, and two tables. No BBQ's.

Problem #1- We had bought enough hamburgers and hot dogs for 30 people, and now had no where to BBQ them. When asking if we could use the park BBQ's near the original party location I was met with your typical bay area paranoid mom response:

"I really don't want my kids around the smoke."

To which I replied

"Well, since it's first come first serve, and you're not using them, we're going to. I have to be able to feed my guests. Sorry!"

Although I was set to be "that mom" that ruined another families birthday party, my husband, the bigger man, went home and got our tiny travel BBQ and brought it back to our site.

Problem #2- All of the decorations that I had worked so hard on were planned around that stupid pergola. What a waste!!

Problem #3- The BBQ issue delayed the cooking and partying, and guests ended up showing up as I was frantically trying to set up, rather than showing up to freshly made food and relaxed hostess!

All this aside, it really was a great day. Jax had a BLAST, his friends seemed to have a lot of fun, and Nolan and I got to catch up with family, old friends, and get to know some new ones! It's a pretty good sign of a fun party when the two hours you had planned on stretches on to three hours, and then four. I couldn't have asked for a better afternoon!

Luckily my mom and our friend Tegan were thoughtful enough to take some pictures, because we forgot our cameras all together!

 Outdoor Bowling Set

 These were on the gift table, but I forgot to take a picture of them while we were there! I loved having pictures of him at all of his previous birthdays :)

 Birthday Boy!

 Jax's first experience with a pinata!

Such a beautiful day. 

 Officially the biggest bowling set I've ever seen. Thanks "Nessa!"

"This is just getting to be too much mom."

Happy Birthday to my Little Man!

Tomorrow my “little” man turns four. I'm trying not to be "that" mom... the one that balls her eyes out every time her child grows by a year. I am so unbelievably proud of the boy Jax is becoming, but a small part of me mourns the little Eskimo baby he used to be :) 

Four. For some reason hearing this number is a little bit surreal for me! I have a four year old. How did THAT happen?! I blinked and he turned from helpless infant to competent boy. He’s not a baby anymore. He’s not even a toddler. He’s a full blown kid with opinions, ideas, personality, and a crazy little boy sense of humor. He plays tricks on us and cracks fart jokes, and in the next minute holds my face between his hands and tells me he loves me. He would like nothing more than to bowl all day every day, and in his free time learn to pitch from the Giants. The day Jax was born was one of the happiest and most terrifying days of my life, and every day since has been an adventure I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Each March I can’t help but reflect on how much our lives changed the day Jax was born. March 6^th was my very first day of being a mommy, being responsible for another human life, and of feeling true unconditional powerful love. March 6^th was also the first day I heard the words “Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia (NAIT),” words that changed everything about how I view motherhood today. You can read Jax’s birth story here. Jax is a miracle, and every March it weighs on me just how close we were to losing him, and missing out on the incredible joy and honor it is to be his parents. We are truly blessed to have such an amazing little boy as our son! Happy fourth birthday Jax!

 One of the very first times I got to hold Jax :)

Jax's first Giants game!

Its a new year

I know, I know, it's February, a little late to declare resolutions. This morning however I am filled with positivity about what is to come in our lives in 2012. We have waged war against our debt and are on track to have our car paid off in the next 5 months. I am working hard at getting my business website and portfolio up and running for the world to see. We're getting orginized. Our own home is becoming like the Dexters Lab of interior design, but it's coming out beautiful and I'm having a blast (while simultaneously driving Nolan insane)!

As fast as our lives grow and change, our boys are growing and changing even faster. As much as I want them to stay adorable and little, I am constantly impressed by the little men they are becoming. My wish for them is that they will grow to become compassionate caring men with concern and love for their fellow man. I also hope that the bond they have with each other will extend into adulthood. My brother and sister are two of my best friends, I can only hope the boys are able to have that same bond with each other as they grow older.

In the next few months we will welcome another nephew into the world, celebrate Jax's 4th birthday, Maddox's 2nd birthday, and Nolan and It's 8th wedding anniversary. Nothing but wonderful things to come! I'm excited to see what this year has in store for our family!
Tracy

This is about as close to death as I've ever felt... and I've given birth!

Tuesday evening began innocently enough... Nolan and I watched our guilty pleasure (Teen Mom 2. I know, I know, it's stupid, but we like it!), and eventually went to sleep. Around 4am my mommy radar kicked in to hear Maddox crying from his crib. He doesn't wake up often (thankfully), so I stumbled my way into the boys' room thinking I would just turn his music box on and lay him back down without any issue. Imagine my surprise to see him sitting in his bed at 4am, covered in vomit and heaving more out by the second. For what seemed like a full minute (I'm sure much less in reality) I just stared at him. Do I pick him up to comfort him and get puked on? Do I let him finish? It was a dilemma. In the end I picked him him and let him vomit his entire night's dinner all over my shoulder. That's love. It was also my first mistake in the days to come, and I'm quite sure was the very moment I contracted this evil virus.

Neither of the kids have ever had the stomach flu, and to be honest it has been one of my greatest fears.
I was not prepared for the horror that was to come in the slightest.

Maddox continued to vomit every hour on the hour until around noon on Wednesday. Nolan was kind enough to stay home from work because knowing all too well how diseases travel in our family, we assumed it was only a matter of hours before Jax was hurling as well. I was going to need some help!
This was our second mistake.

By evening Maddox was keeping water and pedialite down, and even managed to sleep through the night. Thursday morning brought a refreshed and healthy baby. Not wanting to miss too much work, Nolan returned to his job (our third mistake), and Jax seemed to escape the flu. I on the other hand, awoke to what can only be described as knives being stabbed and twisted throughout my gut. I kept Jax home from preschool, because in all honesty I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make the 10 minute drive to pick him back up in the afternoon.

I was facing a full day with the stomach flu, alone, with two seemingly healthy kids. What's a mom to do? Turn on Mickey Mouse, that's what! Going against my better judgment I plugged the boys into the TV for as long as they could stand it (which turned out to pretty long)! I managed to stretch cartoons out until noon, and was beginning to think I might make it until help arrived (in the form of Nolan coming home from work around 7pm). Then disaster struck. The vomiting began. Every hour on the hour I spent some quality time with the toilet, the stainless steel mixing bowl, essentially whatever was closest to me. Many times a certain three year old would be standing over me asking "Mommy, I want a snack," "Mommy, where's my bowling pins?" as I responded between dry heaves "Mommy will be out in a minute, GO OUT!"

You may be wondering how this situation can get worse.
Don't wonder.

Around 3:00pm, when I was really starting to feel my worst, I heard the words I was dreading. Sitting next to me on the couch Jax says "Mommy... my belly hurts."
Aw crap.
"Do you have to go poopy?" I ask hopefully. Maybe that's all there is to it, just a little poop and his tummy will be back to normal!
"Yeah..." he responds and rushes off to the bathroom.
Seconds later I hear screaming. I'm still naively thinking "maybe it's diarrhea?" when he jumps up from the toilet, wraps his arms around my neck, and projectile vomits all over myself, his naked legs, the floor, the toilet, the walls, the bathtub, the toilet paper, and even a small amount into the stainless steel puke bowl. Best of all, he has been drinking a lot of milk, so his vomit consists of mainly curdled milk... anyone who has had a baby knows what that smells like. Imagine that smell has just soaked your entire bathroom, and you're the only adult home to clean it. Ad to that that you yourself are incredibly weak and nauseous and you have quite the predicament.

At about this point I was beginning to think "I'm really screwed."
I called Nolan and begged him to come home as soon as humanly possible (which turned out to be 5pm). Jax was throwing up every 20 minutes, I was averaging every 40 minutes, and Maddox wanted nothing more than to play. We were a mess. I remember looking at the clock and thinking "Two more hours, I can make it two hours. I've had babies, I can last two more hours with the stomach flu!" To top things off I couldn't imagine having the ability to clean the bathroom in my state, yet remember that diarrhea I mentioned hoping for? That would be mistake number four.

Armed with a shirt tied over my face and an arsenal of bleach, towels, and garbage bags I managed to clean the bathroom just enough to make it bearable. And just in time for my hourly dry-heave session, this time with Jax standing over my shoulder begging for chocolate milk, and me explaining between heaves why chocolate milk isn't a good idea on a sick stomach. Several hours later Nolan (our savior) walked through the door. Officially relieved of duty, I made my way to our bed and slept for several hours, awaking occasionally to hear questions like "Jax, did you fart? (yes)" "Are your sure it was just a fart? (no)" "Did you poop in your pants? (yes)" "Do you need to throw up? (yes)"

Eventually this horror story wound down for the evening. Nolan slept on the couch with Jax on the love seat (so he could help him to the bathroom in the middle of the night if needed), Maddox slept soundly in his crib, and I in our bed. Jax and I awoke Friday morning feeling weak, but comparatively speaking 1000 times better then the day before. Nolan returned to work (mistake number 5), and life was appearing to return to normal.

Around 10:30am Friday Nolan called from work "I think it's hitting me too, can you come and pick me up?"
This hellish stomach flu was not going to rest until it officially eliminated my entire family. He spent Friday (and much of Saturday) laid out in much the same manner as the rest of us.

And here we sit, Saturday evening, feeling like we have just survived the plague and lived to tell the tale. Tomorrow will be a better day! Unless of course this thing mutates and cycles back around... if there's one thing I've learned about having two kids, it's that there are just enough people in the household for germs to mutate and jump from host to host!
~Tracy