29 Day Giving Challenge

I need some more purpose in my every day to day. I've been feeling down trodden and uneventful lately. It's not that there isn't happiness and excitement in my every day life. But that's just it. I feel like all I have is this normal every day life. So the first thing I am going to try is the 29 Day Giving Challenge. It's kind of great that tomorrow starts a new month. I already have all of these ideas in my head about what I can do for 29 days. I don't know if I will have a shortage of ideas, it's more about making them meaningful. Here's the site:

http://givingchallenge.ning.com/

So if you're a special person in my life expect that you might be a part of my 29 days. I'm really hoping to incorporate Nate into it to help me give. I'm really excited about this!

2 Year Checkup and "Mommy, my leg hurts"

I DREAD checkups and trips to the doctors. Nate has been known to get pretty hysterical as soon as we get called back to a room. I was prepared for the worst. When they called his name, "he started to moan in his I don't want to do that whiney way". I acted quickly and asked him to give the clipbard questionaire to the nurse. He had a job and that helped move things along. Once in the room he was ok, but when he had to be weighed he wasn't too happy. Luckily he can now stand on the scale and stand to be measured. He now weighs 26 lbs and 6 oz and is 34 inches long. So in a year he gained 4 lbs and 4 inches.

He was so much better with the doctor than he has ever been. He whined a little, but actually talked with her and wasn't crying in my arms. The worst part was when he had to get a shot (thankfully there are no more till 4 years old). The nurse was nice and quick, but it was enough to leave him crying. It pains me to give him vaccines, but I know that I would rather he have a quick stick then a deadly disease.

After the visit we went to the toy store and he got to pick out a train for his new Thomas the Train set. However, last night he was miserable. He was tired because he didn't nap. He was limping around telling us that his leg hurt. Even when he woke up at 6am he still said his leg hurt. We even had to miss a trip to the water park this morning because he isn't really 100% yet. Hopefully another day and his leg will feel fine and he will forget all about the doctors.

He's a big boy now!

We really tried to make Nate's birthday special yesterday, because you only turn 2 once. We went to a sing along time and brought along Memaw (grandma) and Nana (great-grandma). We also had friends meet us there. The boys got to run around the play area and listen to the music then we had lunch at a TGIFridays. Nate didn't touch his coveted pizza, but did put a huge dent in his vanilla ice cream. He would live on vanilla ice cream if he could.

After lunch we took a walk down to the Disney store and he got to pick out a stuffed Lightning McQueen and Mator. You would have thought they were worth a million dollars. He carried the back and walked all the way across the mall. Luckily he fell asleep on the way home because he was exhausted.

In the evening we had my cousins over for presents and cake and ice cream. He was so in love with his new thomas train set that he didn't even want cake!

Evening at the Park

Nate and I spent the evening at the park with friends, having a picnic and playing on the playground. I love how amazing a park is to a toddler. He is fascinated by the trees, sticks, rocks, gravel path, and not to mention the stairs and slides. We blew bubbles, threw a ball, ate a cold treat, and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. To top it of it's midnight and he's still asleep in his bed.

Birthday Excitement

Saturday was Nate's 2nd birthday party with his friends. I know he doesn't have a full concept of what a birthday means, but he does know it includes cake and presents! (or surprises as he calls his gifts).

I chose an Elmo/Sesame Street theme because that is what he has been REALLY into the whole year.

He loves, loves, loves cupcakes. I actually the cupcakes and icing from scratch. I made a majority of the decorations or reused decorations from past parties. Plus we had all of his toys to decorate with. Our biggest expense for decorations was balloons and an elmo game. I'm really trying to get into reusing/repurposing.

The food was pretty yummy. It was 100 degrees outside, so we couldn't go outside and we didn't want to heat up the house with cooking a lot of things. So cold food was the theme.

Nate was really too excited to eat, but he gave it a try.

We tried a pin the nose on elmo game, which was pretty cute.

I think overall Nate had an awesome time seeing his friends and family, opening presents, and eating cake. What more could a 2 year old ask for?

730 days
17520 hours
1051200 minutes
63072000 seconds

or 2 years.

2 years isn't a very long time in the grand scheme of things. That's how long it usually takes to get an associates degree. Or 2.5 years in my case.

But when you're a mom 2 years goes by too fast. Every second goes by too fast. In 9 days my baby will be 2 years old. It blows my mind. He is saying sentences, "people drive cars". He is problem solving and trying to use his power of persuasion like in our conversation before bed. Me, "no more nursing, it's time for bed". Him, "switch sides?".

He is my heart walking outside of my body and I'm going to savor these last few days before I have to utter the words, "he is 2".