Our Every Day

This past week, we transitioned into a third shift family. What does this mean? Well, because of shift changes (they happen every six months) at Mike's work, he voluntarily moved to third shifts. It was a joint decision, and we feel we made the best one for our family. I will leave out all the details because they will just bore you, but I will leave it at this...I get to have afternoons and evenings - every afternoon and every evening with just Mike and Grayson. And Daisy too, I guess. No, I can no longer cuddle up to Mike in bed at night when I am freezing. That part has been a little rough because Daisy does not give off nearly enough heat since she has taken his spot in bed. Mike, I am sure, is somewhat thrilled that he no longer has to fight me for sheets and blankets. Apparently I am also a bed hog? Whatever. Getting back to the real issue here... I did what I shouldn't have ever done. I googled "How to be a third shift family" or something along those...

On Sunday, August 25th, Grayson will be nine months old. Photo Credit: My mom If I am doing my math correctly (which I am probably not), he is about 39 weeks old. We have officially known him longer post-partum that we did when we were pregnant! Wow. What a crazy 80-some weeks it has been. And friends - let me tell you - if this past week of Grayson shenanigans has been any indication, things are going to get a whole lot crazier. Did you know he climbs steps now? Oh he does. And he knows the perfect opportunity to slip away upstairs and wreak havoc in the bathroom by throwing things in the tub. Isn't that what a 2 year old does? Not a 9 month old baby?! Did you know he slyly pulls out registers from the floor? Oh he does. I don't *think* anyway that he has thrown any of his toys down them YET. Give him time. I'm sure it will happen eventually. Did you know that he gets these fits of energy right before he goes to bed? Where he gets it into everything? ...

What is summer when you are a stay-at-home mom with a child who is not yet school aged? And your husband works a non-teacher type of job? Well, I will tell you. Summer it is just like every other day, week, month out of the year but with warmer temps. As you can probably guess, we did nothing "summer-y" this summer. Yeah we walked over to the ice cream place a block over a couple of times, and we went to the park a few times, but that is about it. Swimming? No. Going on vacation? In my dreams. No weddings to attend. No finding out if our baby was going to be a boy or a girl - or dealing with terrible swelling from pregnancy (like last year.) I know this will change when Grayson is older and has the summers off from school. For him, I hope we will fill his summers with memories like my parents did for me. Because let me tell you, when I was a kid, we had the BEST summers. The best. Days filled with roller skating countless laps around the garage and drivew...

I am back from a short hiatus with another installment of my Disaster Area Series. Let me just say that I am proud that I am carrying through with this. I am very much a sign-up for it, get overwhelmed and just quit kinda girl. Okay that is a little harsh and not necessarily true - but sometimes I feel like that! Shall I remind you of the horror that was the state of the bookcases in this house? It is truly terrifying. (Okay not really.) Bookcase in the kitchen. This is in the main line of sight from the front door. I like to call this the command center for our house. An unorganized command center. It is where we keep all of our bills  and important mail. Not as visible but sits at the top of our steps. Unfortunately both of these areas are high traffic and a good place to "stash" things. They serve as a collection area for just about everything. Baby bottles, baby toys, baby clothes...I don't want to blame it on the baby, BUT...it's a lot of his stuf...

I know, I know. My blog has been neglected lately. I apologize, but I have a handful of excuses as to why I haven't been writing... - Grayson oh Grayson. He has been working on his top two teeth for well over a month now. Add to that, he came down with his very first cold and was miserable for days. He is just now feeling more like himself as far as the cold goes. But the teething? The constant constant flow of drool? The crankiness? Oh, that's still going on. I am hoping those top teeth break through the gums soon so we can ALL get a little bit of relief. - My brother Rob, his wife Tracy and son Emery came to Ohio for a visit! It was a wonderful time! I enjoyed seeing Robbie and Tracy as loving attentive parents to their boy! It is fun to see our loved ones in new roles. It made me wonder a little bit what I look like as a mom! Anyway. We had a great visit with them, and I loved meeting my nephew and seeing his parents.  - We are dealing with technical difficulti...