Down and Out

I have I think the worst cold that I have had in years. I feel so crappy. So bad in fact that The Gent has stayed home from work the last two days. Poor Gent has been just taking care of the kids (well, and me for that matter) while I have been trying to get some sleep. I'm still not feeling much better though. My head is so stuffed up and the box of tissues and I have become connected at the hip. I don't go anywhere without him. I'm either sneezing or coughing or have this runny, stuffy nose. I have the achy all over feeling and really just want to sleep all day but can't when I'm... well.... sneezing, coughing and have this runny nose. Argh. Hope to be feeling better soon.

Happy New Year!

Happy Chinese New Year! Today. That's right. I actually had no idea until we decided (sort of a last minute thing) to go to dinner with my aunt and my grandparents. We used to go to this Chinese restaurant up in Bountiful called Joy Luck and were up in Clearfield tonight and decided that would be the perfect place to go for dinner since we were already in the area. Strawberry chicken, here we come!

I guess I should read the small print on my calendar a bit more. All through dinner we kept commenting on how busy it was there tonight. It took us a while to realize it was because of the Chinese New Year (we are all on top of it, aren't we :-). We also realized that they were having a Chinese dragon dancing there at the restaurant. Fun, right? So, even though we had already finished our meals, we decided to wait for the parade thinking that the kids would really love it.

The Girl didn't really mind at all and was swaying and clapping and waving her arms. The Boy on the other hand was completely freaked out. He wanted to get out of there. He told my aunt that he wanted her to turn off the noise and when my grandpa put on his jacket he said he just wanted him to take him home. Since the dragons were dancing through the restaurant, we couldn't really just leave at that moment as we would have gotten ran over. So, here comes the dragon and The Boy freaked! He was hiding and shaking in my lap. I felt so bad. We thought he would love it. Instead, he was terrified.

We ended up heading out at the first chance we got with one more freak out as we walked by the dragon on the way out the door. The whole way home he just kept telling me, "I don't like that dragon. He's scary!" (signing and saying scary for emphasis). Mental note: Pay attention to the Chinese New Year and don't freak The Boy out with the dancing dragons. Feeling oh so bad. And with The Boy's memory, we're sure to hear about it for months.

Nap. . .No Nap!

For the past few months I have basically given up on trying to get The Boy to take a nap. He is our little energizer bunny and he can go, go, go on very little sleep. I cut out the nap completely hoping that it would make bedtime a bit easier. Yet he still fights and fights going to sleep. Regardless of what time he goes to bed, he is wide awake at 7:00 AM. Which is actuality fabulous seeing that he was getting up at 6 or 6:30 every day. So, I'll take the 7 and sometimes even 7:30 these days.

There are days when we can tell that he is just so tired yet he won't stop long enough to realize it. Once he slows down and stops for even just a minute or two he is out cold. So, we end up having late, late naps which are definitely not helping out our night time routine. But the worst part about is it that when he takes a late nap he wakes up freaking out. It takes me almost half an hour to calm him down and console him. Why? All I can figure is that the nap is so late that he is really almost ready for bed yet its too early to really sleep through the night. Who knows. But I came across this picture as I was editing a few and realized that he really just has to run out of energy and then he will crash. Anywhere, anytime. Here he is sitting on the couch, snack cup in hand, leaning up against The Gent as The Gent watches a basketball game. Out cold.The other day he and I were on the webcam with my sister and The Boy's cousin and best buddy, D and The Boy was climbing all over laughing and playing on the webcam. As soon as we were finished, he climbed behind me in the chair as he always does. He loves to be a monkey on your back! About two minutes later I realized how very still he was. He wasn't moving an inch. He had totally fallen asleep on my back here at the computer. I wish my camera would have been close by. It would have been great to get a picture.

So, after months of no nap, he has started telling me that we need to lay down together for a nap. Today, after I laid The Girl down for her nap he grabbed my hand and said, "Come on, we can lay in our bed." I said, "You mean your bed"? "No, mommy's bed and we can take a nap together!" he said. The fact that he won't sleep in his own bed is an entirely different post. But for today he is taking a nap. He wanted to lay down. Maybe he's figured out that falling asleep just anywhere isn't as cozy. But for sure, I think he knows that a nap is sort of nice sometimes even for a little energizer bunny.

Birthday Fun

So, before the kiddos came along and I became a SAHM, The Gent and I enjoyed many great nights out with friends eating at nice restaurants. Those days are far and few between these days. Our nights out now consist of take out from the nearest restaurant hoping that we can just get the kids in bed early enough to enjoy it and just spend some time with each other. So, going out for a nice dinner is well. . .very enjoyable. We went to the Roof with some friends for mine and Flavio's birthdays. We are both the big 30 and so why not celebrate. Well, I am officially still young for about 6 more days.
As for Flavio. . .he is officially "old" already :-) How does it feel Flavio?
We went out with some of our very best friends who we love and adore. Let me introduce them all. This is Kim & Flavio.This is Cassie. Oh yeah and that is Timmy in the background (love ya Tim!)
This is Greg & Arianne. And here we are.
We had such a good night. Great food. Great company. Some great laughs. And you would probably have to be there to truly enjoy this but these friends are hilarious. When we all get together it is such a good time. Thanks for the laughs. Thanks for the birthday celebration. Thanks for the fabulous night out. I had a great time. Let's do it again on the next 30th (although that could be years away :-) Happy Birthday Flavio!

Funk

I have been wishing and hoping for Spring and have realized it the last few weeks in the things I dress my kids in, the things I want to eat and even how I decorated these cookies. I am ready anytime for a bit of sunshine and good weather. During the summer, we spend half our days out in the yard and love it. It can come anytime!

I am in a funk. Really need to snap out of it. I am blaming it on the snow, the cold weather, and the hibernating we have tended to do this winter. Thus the boring, lack of blog posts. I promise something exciting. Maybe even some pictures! Just need to get them off that camera and edited (one thing I hate about RAW) but trying to streamline the editing process too. We'll see what happens. Anyone else just feel blah.