I wanna be like Handy Manny

Really, I do. Anyone who has seen his show will know what I'm talking about. He is the ultimate at gentle parenting. No matter what the tools get into or break or destroy he never yells. He never gets upset or even frustrated with them. Manny always manages to say something like, "That's ok, everyone makes mistakes. But next time you should be more careful with that." I love that he manages to phrase things in a positive manner while being proactive about fixing the mistake and he always shows them how to fix it. This is sooo important! He always praises them when they do things correctly and they all know how much Manny cares for them.

I wanna parent like Handy Manny. I wanna be endlessly patient and a real role model for my children. I do not want to parent with fear, I want to parent with love, and kindness and gentleness. I hope I remember this on days when I'm frustrated. Luckily our DVR is recording episodes of Handy Manny, so hopefully I'll have an episode to watch and remember on days like that :-)

2 years of Wedded Bliss!

Well, maybe not bliss all the time, lol but damn near close! and it's definitely been fun and exciting and sometimes challenging. Every moment has been wonderful and it's all gone by just sooo quickly!

I love you baby, so much and I am looking forward to every moment that is still to come for us, no matter what the future has in store, as long as we're together it'll be amazing!

Videos!

We were playing Peek-a-boo and this is the picture I got! Cutest thing ever! "Gimme some Cheese Dad! I love it!"

Every time I get the camera out he immediately stops what he's doing and crawls (or walks now) over to me and tries to grab it. SO I get lots of pictures like this!

Look at that face!! I laugh every time!

I love watching this video! We have a couple of them, but this is the best one so far of him walking. He can walk longer than this, but every time he sees the camera he stops what he's doing and tries to grab the camera! So I do what I can :-)

We've been trying so hard to get video of the little goober walking. He just took his first steps last week as you all know, and since then has just gotten better and better every day. He is starting to cross whole rooms now, and I know that in a day or 2 he's gonna be a PRO! I can't believe my baby is walking!

He's also been saying "Mum" or "Mumma" to me and "Dah Dah Dah" at Matt, it's so adorable, we love it! He loves to "talk" all the time and will happily squeal at me all day long. He has 8 teeth and 9 and 10 are on their way in sometime soon as he's been teething like crazy.

Oh, and we moved! it was a crazy week-long adventure, but we made it! We just moved about 15-20 minutes from where we were but to a much bigger 3 bedroom townhouse as opposed to the 2 bedroom we were in. It's a bit further from town and work for Matt, but it's a quiet neighborhood, very kid-friendly. Also, it's just a couple of blocks from the library, a playground and the pool, yay! And we discovered (again) that we HATE MOVING. Next time we move it's gonna be to a house were we will spend the rest of our lives. lol, well maybe not really, but hopefully somewhere we will be for a while at least!

First steps!

Can't believe how big my baby boy is getting..... He took his first official steps today!!

We were all in the kitchen, Matt, Vic and me. Vic was standing up, Matt was holding his hands, then Matt let go of his hands and Vic took 3 steps toward me! Then after we got over the shock, I stood him back up and he did it again!!! Can't believe it! In a week he's gonna be running around like a pro, sheesh! where'd my sweet baby go?

Quote of the Day

"If there is anything we wish to change in the child, we should first examine it and see whether it is something that could better be changed in ourselves."


~C.G. Jung, Intergration of the Personality, 1939

New background

I figured that since we don't get to go on vacation, I'd bring a bit of summer fun to the blog! Enjoy! We did just buy a little blow up kiddie pool, hee hee! There's a party right there!

Tubes are in!

Little man got his tubes in yesterday morning. It was a really long night beforehand! Matt and I were up talking and packing the bag and then when we finally went to bed, Victor woke up crying and rubbing his ears. I was up with him for about 2 hours and finally got him back to sleep about 3:30am which was, ironically, the time that I needed to nurse him for the last time. Because breast milk counts as a clear liquid I was allowed to nurse him 4 hours beforehand, but not after. Thank goodness for that! I can't imagine having to go ALL night without being able to comfort him in that way.



Then I got up at 5:30am, yes, 5:30am. So I actually only slept for about an hour after getting him down. Made some coffee and egg, cheese and ham rollups for Matt and I to eat. Then got Matt up. Shortly thereafter Victor woke up and instead of nursing him and putting him back to sleep for a bit longer I had to just bring him downstairs and he was NOT HAPPY. He was tired and hungry and mad. at. me! Finally, just after 6:30am, we got in the car. He's not a good car rider to begin with and this morning was just awful. He was screaming so bad cause he was hungry and I started crying cause I couldn't fix it! I was pretty much on the verge of tears all morning.



We got there and signed in and started waiting. Luckily I had my Moby Wrap (fantastic wrap carrier that I could NOT live without) and he was a little easier to calm in that. He actually fell asleep a couple of times. We got to put him in his tiny little hospital gown (so cute) and then I wrapped him back up in the Moby and rocked him some more. He fell asleep on me until the nurse came to get him.

He was so not happy, lol. But still pretty cute! Anyways, the nurse came over (they were all incredibly nice) and introduced herself and took Mr. Victor away. I cried. I'm not ashamed or embarassed by it, I know that it is a very safe, simple, quick procedure but there are always risks and you just never know what could happen. He's my little baby whom I love more than anything in the world and I just couldn't bear the thought of him in there without me.

Then we went over to the recovery area to await the doctor and Victor's arrival. About 10 minutes after we got over there the doctor came in and told us that everything had gone fine. They had drained the fluid (there was lots of yucky fluid in both ears) and said that it was a good thing because it most likely would have been infected again very soon. Said that as soon as he woke up they would bring him to us.

About 10 minutes or so later they brought him in. He was all groggy and looking sad. I teared up again as they handed him to me and he started crying. I tried to lay him down on the bed and nurse him but he was too upset to realize what was going on so I just held him. I had some cereal with and offered him a few pieces of that, which he took and calmed him a little bit. He was really, really upset though. He was still tired and hungry and now he felt funny from the anesthesia and just had no idea what was going on. They gave us the discharge instructions and we left.

Again, he hates the car anyways, so I was not looking forward to this drive home. I had to take Matt straight to work and then just me on the way back so I couldn't sit in back with him. I set up the portable DVD players with "The Incredibles" (his absolute favorite) and luckily it kept him entertained. He didn't make a sound ALL the way home!!! I couldn't believe it. Thank goodness for "The Incredibles"! They really are incredible, ha!

Got him home and nursed him and had a little bit of a time putting him to sleep, but I think that's just because he was sooo tired to start with. But finally nursed really well and then PASSED out. I mean, didn't move a single muscle for at least 45 minutes. Thank goodness, my poor little boy.... I laid down with him cause I was exhausted too. This was just before 10am and we didn't get up till just after 1pm! After that, he was happy as can be! He spent 2 and 1/2 hours just playing and babbling to himself and the only time he fussed at all was when I kept moving my computer out of the way cause I'm a mean mom, lol. It was so great! Then for his next nap at 3:30 it took me all of 5 whole minutes to put him to sleep. 5 minutes! Amazing!! granted some of that may still have been after effects of the surgery, but it was sooo nice.

We still have to give him ear drops every 12 hours for a few days, which sucks. We have to hold him down to put them in so you can imagine how well that goes. Anyone have any tips for doing that and making it easier? But overall he seems to be doing really well. I'm sooo glad and I just hope that he continues to do even better!