I thought about titling this post “Babies” but as I was thinking “babies” and “newborns” really are two completely different categories. Newborns are really their own special category. They only stay at that tiny newborn stage for a moment and then it’s gone. The next stage is equally wonderful and the next one after that, but the newborn stage is pretty amazing.
We were lucky enough to be reminded of how fabulous the newborns stage is this weekend. Alex (Garrick’s sister) had her sweet baby boy on Wednesday and unfortunately due to work schedules we had to wait until Saturday to see him. He was perfect and soooo tiny! His tiny cry and darling facial expression as he checked out the world he was just welcomed into were so fun. I’ve always loved babies and particularly newborns but this experience had a new highlight for me. This was the first time Tyson has had the chance to really see a newborn baby, and he LOVED it. He could not stop talking about baby Beckett all weekend. It was so cute to see the amazement on his face as he admired Beckett’s tiny features and he loved Beckett from the first moment he set eyes on him.
I was a bit nervous of how Tyson would react to a new tiny person entering his life. We are expecting a little brother for him in a couple months and I’ve been anxiously anticipating how he will react to the whole situation. Tyson was the first Grandchild and the first child so he has been spoiled with attention from the minute he was born. He has never really had to share Mommy with anyone besides Dad and usually that was fine but there have been moments when Tyson clearly let Dad know that it was HIS turn with Mommy. Seeing Tyson interact with Beckett put all those worries to rest for me. He loved having Beckett nearby, he didn’t seem jealous to see me holding him and he was very helpful. He wanted to give Beckett his pacifier and made sure that he got his mitten back when it fell off. It was so fun to see him try to take care of the newest baby.
The funniest part was seeing how confused Tyson was at why there wasn’t a baby in the car seat. He kept peaking in the car seat trying to figure out where the baby went. Eventually he figured out there was definitely no baby in the car seat so he decided to check out what that baby car seat was all about and climbed in. I missed the picture because he climbed out right as I got my camera and refused to get back in when it was our idea instead of his.
Overall it was a lovely holiday weekend and we loved all the extra time we got to spend with baby Beckett. Now more than ever I’m really looking forward to having a baby brother for Tyson to dote on and take care of.
P.S I'll add some pictures when I get a chance.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Mario Kart
Have any of you ever played Mario Kart? We play it on occasion at our house and unfortunately I am awful at the whole game. They have this cute little trail they want you to follow so you press whatever button it is that makes you go and you take off full speed ahead. The problem is this lovely little game expects you to steer while you speed down the path, which is impossible (for me). As I attempt to steer I always over correct and swerve back and forth across random grass hills & into trees or cows or whatever is around the track. In the other races that aren’t so kind to give you nice grassy hills to drive around in there are horrible cliffs everywhere you look and if you can’t stay on the path you plummet off the cliff (repeatedly). The game kindly provides a service that picks you up after plummeting and puts you back in your place on the track. This was a genius move by the makers of this game because who would want to play if they drove off a cliff, plummeting to their death and the game was over. The invincible feeling that video games gives you must be one of the main attractions to them.
In my attempt to drive around the track I frequently get cornered by a wall or something and no matter how hard I push the go button I don’t go anywhere. I eventually figure out how to turn around and then I start charging full speed ahead again (after all, I’ve had a lovely scenic trip that most others have missed but I’m officially in last place and more than likely lapped by most people.) While charging full speed ahead this annoying little arrow thing pops up on the screen repeatedly flashing at me, but as you know I’m in last place and have ground to cover so I politely ignore it. After a few minutes of driving things start to look vaguely familiar and I get excited thinking I’ve finally finish my first lap. To add to my excitement I start to see other cars. The excited feeling only lasts for a moment when I finally realize I’m going the wrong direction and the cars are barreling towards me and I’m inevitably going to get hit. Luckily there are several positive aspects of this situation. 1- When you get hit there is a good possibility it might help you turn the darn car around. 2- When the other super fast cars hit you they will also be slowing down and loosing ground in this hopeless race.
As you head around the track they also give you these box prize things to try to hit as you go. I personally feel this is a bit rude of them, I mean its hard enough to just stay going in a straight line and going the direction you’re supposed to be going without worrying about collecting prizes. Regardless of how I feel about it, I am still compelled to try to hit the prizes, (which often leads to either getting stuck in a wall or plummeting off a cliff but so does everything else). Eventually you make it all the way around the track and back to where you started and what do you do? You start again on lap 2 repeating the whole messy spectacle of trying to navigate the track.
So you’re probably wondering why I’m going into such great detail about a silly video game that we play a couple times a year at the most. I’ll explain. Recently we’ve starting going on walks again since the lovely spring weather has returned and we’ve started letting Tyson walk instead of ride in the stroller during these evening walks. I figure he can use the exercise and maybe if he burns off enough energy he will willingly come inside when we get home and be tired enough to go to be at bedtime. We have a cute little path leading from our house around an oddly shaped block and back home (which reminds me of a Mario Kart trail.) Walking with Tyson is fascinating, slow, and a bit like the Mario Kart experience described above.
Tyson never walks, he RUNS, full speed ahead, arms flapping, legs kicking, and giggling the whole way. He loves the freedom of being able to run around the block with mom and dad in tow without having to be confined to a stroller. With the charging full speed ahead he doesn’t go for a straight line or even attempt to stay on the sidewalk. He wanders off into literally every yard and driveway we pass by. Sometimes he goes and looks at the cars or the light poles. Sometimes he finds rocks to pick up and sometimes he stops to talk to the dogs in the yards. The best though is when he finds nothing particularly exciting in the yard so he looks up and realizes (as if it is the very first time he has ever seen it) that there is SKY! Its amazing and blue and beautiful! He keeps pointing, staring in awe and saying “Wow…” At first when he did this I kept looking around expecting to see something, a bird, an airplane, heck by as amazed as he was I was half excepting to see a UFO. As I stared up to the empty sky above and saw nothing but endless blue with an occasional wispy cloud I realized that was what was so amazing. It wasn’t something in the sky it was just the sky, and it was phenomenal.
As also happens in Mario Kart occasionally Tyson will run off the path into the road (or off the side of a cliff if you’re in Mario Kart) and Dad or in yesterday’s case Uncle Brad will kindly pick him back up and put him back on the path he should be on (just like the magical little thing does for you in Mario Kart!) Unfortunately, unlike in Mario Kart we are not invincible and roads are dangerous so we try to avoid them as much as possible. Luckily Tyson is pretty good about not going out in the road most of the time unless he decides that the perfect rock is out in the road and he feels that he MUST go get it. The rocks on these walks are like the prizes on Mario Kart. He loves them, he can’t get enough of them and he is compelled to stop whatever he is doing, even slow down the running to pick up the perfect rocks. This is often the part where Tyson gets turned around and takes off full speed ahead the wrong direction, luckily with some gentle coaxing he turns around and comes with us.
Equally as fascinating as the sky above are the bugs below. Spotting a bug or searching for a bug is kind of like the part of Mario Kart where you get stuck in a wall and can’t move. Everything stops while you are looking at the bugs. You can’t just squat down and look at them from a reasonable distance; you have to lie down all the way on the ground with your face less than an inch away from the cement to truly observe the bug. These dramatic pit stops are not saved only for rare and spectacular bugs, in fact this is the enthusiasm with which Tyson greets every single ant he sees crawling across the sidewalk.
Slowly but surely we make the full loop while exploring fire hydrants, cars, fences, chains, bugs, rocks, sticks, sky, and many other things. Incase you haven’t been on a walk with a toddler lately, all of these things are truly amazing and deserve the excited exploration they receive, just ask Tyson. We wave at anyone driving or walking by and Tyson stops and talks to anyone out in their yard as we walk past. (He must have gotten this from his Grandpa because he sure didn’t get that part from me.)
We finally finish our loop. We have swerved off in every direction except the one the path expects us to follow, we have been saved from plummeting (or the road) and gently placed back on the path, we have gotten road blocked by ants, we have ran half the race the wrong direction, and we have collected LOTS of rock prizes. So what does Tyson want to do now? That’s right; he wants to go for another lap.
In my attempt to drive around the track I frequently get cornered by a wall or something and no matter how hard I push the go button I don’t go anywhere. I eventually figure out how to turn around and then I start charging full speed ahead again (after all, I’ve had a lovely scenic trip that most others have missed but I’m officially in last place and more than likely lapped by most people.) While charging full speed ahead this annoying little arrow thing pops up on the screen repeatedly flashing at me, but as you know I’m in last place and have ground to cover so I politely ignore it. After a few minutes of driving things start to look vaguely familiar and I get excited thinking I’ve finally finish my first lap. To add to my excitement I start to see other cars. The excited feeling only lasts for a moment when I finally realize I’m going the wrong direction and the cars are barreling towards me and I’m inevitably going to get hit. Luckily there are several positive aspects of this situation. 1- When you get hit there is a good possibility it might help you turn the darn car around. 2- When the other super fast cars hit you they will also be slowing down and loosing ground in this hopeless race.
As you head around the track they also give you these box prize things to try to hit as you go. I personally feel this is a bit rude of them, I mean its hard enough to just stay going in a straight line and going the direction you’re supposed to be going without worrying about collecting prizes. Regardless of how I feel about it, I am still compelled to try to hit the prizes, (which often leads to either getting stuck in a wall or plummeting off a cliff but so does everything else). Eventually you make it all the way around the track and back to where you started and what do you do? You start again on lap 2 repeating the whole messy spectacle of trying to navigate the track.
So you’re probably wondering why I’m going into such great detail about a silly video game that we play a couple times a year at the most. I’ll explain. Recently we’ve starting going on walks again since the lovely spring weather has returned and we’ve started letting Tyson walk instead of ride in the stroller during these evening walks. I figure he can use the exercise and maybe if he burns off enough energy he will willingly come inside when we get home and be tired enough to go to be at bedtime. We have a cute little path leading from our house around an oddly shaped block and back home (which reminds me of a Mario Kart trail.) Walking with Tyson is fascinating, slow, and a bit like the Mario Kart experience described above.
Tyson never walks, he RUNS, full speed ahead, arms flapping, legs kicking, and giggling the whole way. He loves the freedom of being able to run around the block with mom and dad in tow without having to be confined to a stroller. With the charging full speed ahead he doesn’t go for a straight line or even attempt to stay on the sidewalk. He wanders off into literally every yard and driveway we pass by. Sometimes he goes and looks at the cars or the light poles. Sometimes he finds rocks to pick up and sometimes he stops to talk to the dogs in the yards. The best though is when he finds nothing particularly exciting in the yard so he looks up and realizes (as if it is the very first time he has ever seen it) that there is SKY! Its amazing and blue and beautiful! He keeps pointing, staring in awe and saying “Wow…” At first when he did this I kept looking around expecting to see something, a bird, an airplane, heck by as amazed as he was I was half excepting to see a UFO. As I stared up to the empty sky above and saw nothing but endless blue with an occasional wispy cloud I realized that was what was so amazing. It wasn’t something in the sky it was just the sky, and it was phenomenal.
As also happens in Mario Kart occasionally Tyson will run off the path into the road (or off the side of a cliff if you’re in Mario Kart) and Dad or in yesterday’s case Uncle Brad will kindly pick him back up and put him back on the path he should be on (just like the magical little thing does for you in Mario Kart!) Unfortunately, unlike in Mario Kart we are not invincible and roads are dangerous so we try to avoid them as much as possible. Luckily Tyson is pretty good about not going out in the road most of the time unless he decides that the perfect rock is out in the road and he feels that he MUST go get it. The rocks on these walks are like the prizes on Mario Kart. He loves them, he can’t get enough of them and he is compelled to stop whatever he is doing, even slow down the running to pick up the perfect rocks. This is often the part where Tyson gets turned around and takes off full speed ahead the wrong direction, luckily with some gentle coaxing he turns around and comes with us.
Equally as fascinating as the sky above are the bugs below. Spotting a bug or searching for a bug is kind of like the part of Mario Kart where you get stuck in a wall and can’t move. Everything stops while you are looking at the bugs. You can’t just squat down and look at them from a reasonable distance; you have to lie down all the way on the ground with your face less than an inch away from the cement to truly observe the bug. These dramatic pit stops are not saved only for rare and spectacular bugs, in fact this is the enthusiasm with which Tyson greets every single ant he sees crawling across the sidewalk.
Slowly but surely we make the full loop while exploring fire hydrants, cars, fences, chains, bugs, rocks, sticks, sky, and many other things. Incase you haven’t been on a walk with a toddler lately, all of these things are truly amazing and deserve the excited exploration they receive, just ask Tyson. We wave at anyone driving or walking by and Tyson stops and talks to anyone out in their yard as we walk past. (He must have gotten this from his Grandpa because he sure didn’t get that part from me.)
We finally finish our loop. We have swerved off in every direction except the one the path expects us to follow, we have been saved from plummeting (or the road) and gently placed back on the path, we have gotten road blocked by ants, we have ran half the race the wrong direction, and we have collected LOTS of rock prizes. So what does Tyson want to do now? That’s right; he wants to go for another lap.
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
I feel....
Today I was browsing on Facebook and saw this lady posted a fill in the blank post saying “Today I feel ________” and invited her friends to fill in the blank. She shared a cute happy little statement about how she was feeling today filling in the blank with something positive (I don’t remember what exactly.) What I saw next was kind of sad. Every single person that replied to her post had a negative feeling: stressed, tired, sleep deprived, anxious, nervous, lousy, frustrated, overwhelmed etc. I thought to myself. Isn’t it horribly sad that so many people feel crummy?
I thought about what I would fill in the blank with. I could easily say I’m any of those negative things from avove, I think everyone feels most of those feelings a different points throughout the day, but do I really want those negative feelings defining my whole day? Couldn’t my day be just as easily defined by the feeling of excitement, happiness or love? I wonder and I hope that all those people who responded to the post on FB could also define their feelings as loving, excited, hopeful, inspired, happy, peaceful, relaxed, or joyful.
Obviously every second of every day isn’t going to be complete bliss, but wouldn’t you just feel better if you focused on the positive moments and feelings rather than the negative ones. So just incase you’re wondering; today I feel:
Obviously every second of every day isn’t going to be complete bliss, but wouldn’t you just feel better if you focused on the positive moments and feelings rather than the negative ones. So just incase you’re wondering; today I feel:
- Loved- because my sweet little boy gave me endless hugs this morning before I dropped him off. He even climbed back up and gave me extra hugs when I dropped him off before he let me leave. (I was almost late to work but it was very worth it.)
- Relieved- because even though he was a little clingy and hugging he smiled and waved when I told him I had to go to work. It is so nice to leave knowing he is happy and calm not crying or sad.
- Happy- because I have that darling little boy in my life plus its spring, who isn’t happy with sunny weather?
- Blessed- because both my husband and I have good jobs and haven’t had to go a single day without work since we got married (amazing!)
- Calm- because I can feel my new little baby kick and squirm all day and I know he is healthy and growing strong.
- Inspired- because I have the chance to learn so much from the people around me (especially Tyson who inspires me every day to be a better person.)
- Excited- because we can probably go to the park this afternoon, and because this weekend is a holiday weekend and my husband will be HOME!
And probably lots of other things but those are the ones that stick out right now.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Spring Time!
It is officially
spring (has been for a while) and we are loving the beautiful weather. Tyson
cannot get enough of the outdoors right now. Most every day when I pick him up
at the babysitter's he is outside playing. I love to see him squatting down
searching for bugs (ewww I know!) or collecting rocks. After work we
often go to the park or on a walk. Yesterday's spring felt more like summer to
me, (maybe its the pregnancy getting to me or something) I was hot and I
assumed he had to be too but he desperately wanted to be outside so we filled
up the little wading pool and he splashed and played all evening. Janelle came and visited while we waited for the boys to get off work and as always Tyson loved having her around. He was much
more interested in scooping up and dumping out the water than actually climbing
in it but either way it was lots of fun. He also realized that if he got his
giant cup too close to me and the picnic blanket we were lounging on I would get
panicked, desperately telling him to go put the water in the pool. He thought
it was hilarious to scare me and tease me with the water. He played outside all
night until it was time for dinner and he woke up this morning at 6:30 begging
to go play outside more. I'm so glad we live in such a beautiful part of the
world and can enjoy this lovely time of year.
P.S. for those of you without little boys spring time is monumentally more fun with little boys! Who knew!?!
Thanks Janelle for taking the pics!
Strawberry Jam
This weekend was our first attempt at homemade strawberry jam. I always loved my mom's strawberry jam and decided I could try my hand at a batch. I am not the most domestically talented of sorts but it was fun and Tyson loves helping in the kitchen.
I'm not really sure how well the jam will turn out because the instructions said over and over again that you had to use the EXACT amount of fruit and the EXACT amount of sugar and well.... with a one year old helping measure and pour all the ingredients nothing is exact, but it was fun.Besides I figure there is no possible way strawberries and sugar can taste bad- Right? Either way it was a steal of a deal on strawberries and we had lots of fun so it was worth it even if I end up having to throw the whole sticky mess away.
(PS sorry about the long line of pictures. I'm not sure how to format pictures in this thing. I'll learn.)
 |
| The Helper! |
 |
 |
| We washed the berries & loaded the blender |
 |
| We put on the lid. Then... |
 |
| We crushed the berries |
 |
| We check the progress |
 |
| We carefully measured |
 |
| We added lemon juice & pectin |
 |
| We poured in the sugar |
 |
| We stirred and stirred. |
(PS sorry about the long line of pictures. I'm not sure how to format pictures in this thing. I'll learn.)
Thursday, May 17, 2012
I love Saturdays
Sometimes on Saturdays I feel awfully guilty and lazy. I look around the house and see the tipped over vase, the folded clothes waiting to be put away, the pillows strewn all over the living room, and the dishes piled in the sink. Then I go over and make sure the front door is locked and vow not to open it if anyone decides to drop by. Surrounded by the mess and a napping baby I try to figure out what on earth I've done with the past 5 hours of the day. So I made a list.
Practicing names and words
Breakfast pancakes and bananas
Reading books and cuddling
Helping fold laundry
Horsey rides on moms lap
Sneaking jelly beans from the old Easter eggs mom forgot about
Giggling because he got caught by mom
Pretend Grocery shopping
Playing dump trucks
Dancing with headphones
Soccer
More soccer
More Dancing with headphones
Practicing counting
More soccer (yes we played a lot of indoor soccer today)
Hide and seek with the blanket
Playing with turtle
Running across the couch like its hot lava then jumping on my lap for safety (I know this was dangerous and a good mom would have never let such craziness occur)
Jumping on the couch (yes I know still dangerous and an obvious forbidden activity. But I don't really like this couch that much anyways.)
Falling off the couch (yep... this is why the good moms don't let their kids jump on the couch.)
Cuddling and kisses to make it better (I think he exaggerated the pain a little bit to get extra kisses but who can complain when kisses make EVERYTHING better in less than 5 seconds?)
Italian ice snack
Watching dinosaur train for quiet time
Cuddling until we both fell asleep.
Well... I guess we did stuff. No it wasn't terribly productive, and yeah only one item on our agenda was one of my Saturday chores. Some people probably see a list like this and think I should be teaching him better work ethic or I should remember my responsibilities as a wife and mother. Some people are probably disturbed that I let a 20 month old boy fall off the couch and others are probably appalled that at 20 months we are still practicing words and names instead of fluent Chinese.
But we had fun. And I got to listen to my little boy giggle and laugh and he was happy and so was I. All day, well so far. Yeah my kid might not grow up in the cleanest house, and my husband may not get gourmet meals hardly ever. My kids will never be fluent in Chinese, French or any other foreign language because of me. But we will be happy and we will look back and love our memories of Saturdays much more so than I would remember how clean my house stayed and how organized everything was. Is there too for improvement? Undeniably. It wouldn't hurt to have him help me do dishes and incorporate some cleaning into the fun. But all in all when I look back at the last 5 hours, I feel alright about what we've done. (just as long as no visitors stop by until I've cleaned up a little.) :-)
Practicing names and words
Breakfast pancakes and bananas
Reading books and cuddling
Helping fold laundry
Horsey rides on moms lap
Sneaking jelly beans from the old Easter eggs mom forgot about
Giggling because he got caught by mom
Pretend Grocery shopping
Playing dump trucks
Dancing with headphones
Soccer
More soccer
More Dancing with headphones
Practicing counting
More soccer (yes we played a lot of indoor soccer today)
Hide and seek with the blanket
Playing with turtle
Running across the couch like its hot lava then jumping on my lap for safety (I know this was dangerous and a good mom would have never let such craziness occur)
Jumping on the couch (yes I know still dangerous and an obvious forbidden activity. But I don't really like this couch that much anyways.)
Falling off the couch (yep... this is why the good moms don't let their kids jump on the couch.)
Cuddling and kisses to make it better (I think he exaggerated the pain a little bit to get extra kisses but who can complain when kisses make EVERYTHING better in less than 5 seconds?)
Italian ice snack
Watching dinosaur train for quiet time
Cuddling until we both fell asleep.
Well... I guess we did stuff. No it wasn't terribly productive, and yeah only one item on our agenda was one of my Saturday chores. Some people probably see a list like this and think I should be teaching him better work ethic or I should remember my responsibilities as a wife and mother. Some people are probably disturbed that I let a 20 month old boy fall off the couch and others are probably appalled that at 20 months we are still practicing words and names instead of fluent Chinese.
But we had fun. And I got to listen to my little boy giggle and laugh and he was happy and so was I. All day, well so far. Yeah my kid might not grow up in the cleanest house, and my husband may not get gourmet meals hardly ever. My kids will never be fluent in Chinese, French or any other foreign language because of me. But we will be happy and we will look back and love our memories of Saturdays much more so than I would remember how clean my house stayed and how organized everything was. Is there too for improvement? Undeniably. It wouldn't hurt to have him help me do dishes and incorporate some cleaning into the fun. But all in all when I look back at the last 5 hours, I feel alright about what we've done. (just as long as no visitors stop by until I've cleaned up a little.) :-)
Hi, we are the Evertons. I have been thinking about how to best document the wonderful day to day things that happen in my life. I don't journal, and scrapbooking (when I get arround to it, which is almost always a full year behind at the best) only captures the big events not all the little moments. I wanted a way to capture the moments. My sweet little boy is growing up and I love it and I want to remember the details of these times. So I decided to start a blog. Nothing crafty, creative, inspirational, or even interesting to most, but it will give me a place to document the moments, the little things I fall in love with every day. Somedays its the giggle of my toddler discovering something new, somedays its the chance to have a date night with my husband, somedays its the gorgeous place we live in and the nature that surrounds us. Whatever it is I want to remember all the things I love moment by moment. More than likely this blog will be spurratic at best, but atleast when I get the urge to write about something that I'm falling in love with I'll have a place to do it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)