So, we got him bundled up into his snowsuit (thanks to Aunt T)

and set out to take a walk and burn off some of the pent up energy that this 16 month old has inside his little body.  The results were even.  Meaning that evenly opposed to each other.  One second he would love it,

Then hate it.

He did thoroughly enjoy going down the “hill” on the sled with Daddy…  then promptly broke into sobs because his hands were freezing.

So, that was this past Saturday.

Here I am, Tuesday afternoon, and we’re both without jackets, playing outside in the yard in 60 degree weather.

Mind you, I’m definitely not complaining, I’d take the 60 degrees any day… but does this make ANY sense???

]]> http://smbunn.wordpress.com/2012/01/24/snow-and-60/feed/ 0 smbunn IMG_0052 IMG_0059 IMG_0061 http://smbunn.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/seasons-rushing-by/ http://smbunn.wordpress.com/2011/12/27/seasons-rushing-by/#comments Tue, 27 Dec 2011 15:38:05 +0000 Mary http://smbunn.wordpress.com/?p=537 ]]> Well, once again I am a complete and utter slacker when it comes to posting on my blog.

I feel like “things and stuff” just take over, and I am left here with my jaw hanging open wondering, WHERE did the time go?  Suddenly it’s Christmas again.  Suddenly my baby boy is 16 months old and walking and chattering.  Suddenly I’m facing decisions that should be easy, but make me feel incredibly stressed.

We’ve had a whirlwind of a year.  Birthdays and deaths, storms and peaceful nights together… all in all, we’re happy, healthy and incredibly blessed.

To address these things It’s Christmas again.  Sam and I have probably gone overboard on gifts for Finn, and for each other.  Every year we have set a small limit (small in comparison I am sure) on how much to spend for each other.  Every year, I think we go over it a bit.  This year, I know I have had no issue spending on Mr. F.  I want to see his little face on Sunday morning when the tree is lit in the semi darkness and suddenly there are all these BOXES under the tree!!  We’ve let him play with a few of his Christmas gifts, simply because I couldn’t hold out.  One was an adorable rocking dog that I just love, and Finn does too.  We’ll hide it tonight and then put a bow on it for Sunday morning.  Some others have been books.  One I brought out and he really loved it, so I snuck it away pretty quickly. 

Finnegan is getting bigger and bigger every day.  Every day I look at him and think about how tiny he once was.  How he slept all day and I could get so much done around the house.  Now, I try to make sure I sit on the floor with him and play at least a couple of times a day when working from home.  Other days, I don’t always get that time.  I do however get bedtime.  That’s my treat.  I need to see it as a treat (which I mostly do, it’s the days that I’m worn and tired that I sometimes don’t) because the daddy preference is rearing its head more and more often.  I knew it would happen, and it didn’t take long for it to show up, but lately it’s becoming stronger.  Who really knows what it is.  Is it that Daddy is just more fun?  Or is it that innately, Finn knows he’s a boy, like daddy??  Either way, I do try to soak up every little snuggle when it is presented, every little kiss, when for some strange reason he feels like giving me a sweet one.  This has been my major train of thought this week… cherishing those moments.  Truly trying to take the time to spend with him, because I know, as one blogger said “This too shall pass” and it rings oh so true.  Pretty soon he won’t be a little boy running down the hall in footie pajamas.  Pretty soon he won’t be putting the binky in his mouth and reading a bedtime story with me.  I am thankful for snuggles in the morning too, which have become a sort of habit as of late.  (Early morning cries = time in mommy and daddy’s bed sleeping)  Habit, yes.  Good or bad, undecided. 

Stressful decisions… in an adult woman’s life, are there any decisions that aren’t stressing?  Currently, there are a few that are in “talks.”    Things like basement projects, money, cars… even jobs.  Everything and nothing, truly.  Nothing pressing of course… but I constantly throw things around in my head, back and forth, back and forth.  Volleying around and getting nowhere until I feel like I can solidly say “YES” about a single item and be happy about that final decision.

She IS Martha Stewart, Betty Crocker, Rosie the Riveter, Oprah, Angelina Jolie AND Tina Fey (who I find HILARIOUS).

She is always the nicest person you know, and she would would probably feel awful if she knew that I compared myself to her and felt inadequate.

So instead of feeling inadequate, I am going to flaunt all of MY adventures, and things I can do, and do well.

I am a Mother to a BEAUTIFUL little boy.

I am a sister to SIX siblings, and sister in law to 6 OTHER siblings.

I have 15 nieces and nephews on EACH side of my family, and counting

I have been married to an amazing man for 5+ years

I have a home that my husband and I have renovated ALL BY OURSELVES

I make and sell greeting cards

I have been to Germany, Hawaii, Bahamas, Grand Turk, Puerto Rico, Texas, California, St. Lucia, Martinique, and many more exotic locations

I have ridden in a Helicopter

I have lived in NY, Virginia, Boston and Maryland

I have stripped and refinished a dresser for my nursery

I have a job that I love and hours that allow me to spend time with those two fabulous men listed above.

The Lord loves me, and that above all, I should be content in.

So, enough with the list- I have to do a MUCH more important thing when continuously comparing myself to any other person.

At the end of this month, my munckin will be turning 1!

He’s grown up so fast.  We’ll be having a birthday party to celebrate- and no, I’m not “going all out” but I am planning on doing a couple of cute things (Thank you, Pinterest) to celebrate.

I have tons of things flitting around in my head, and I can occasionally snatch them in time to write them down in list form.  Unfortunately, after that, more often than not my list gets filled, but not checked off or completed.  Some stuff gets written down only because I’ve already done it, and I want to “look” like I am making progress.  Don’t judge, you know you’re guilty of the same thing.  =)

So my current to-do list has a LOT of household items and projects that I’m not sure I’ll ever get around to.  Those shelves I have in the basement, will I ever really paint them and hang them in F’s room?  The mirror in our entry way, will I ever get around to sanding and painting it in order to re-hang it?  I really want to paint the foyer table too.  Then there’s the simpler stuff, like filing all of the paperwork in our office.  Do I need to learn what can stay or what can go??  Oh, the amount of clothes I need to bring to the consignment shop, the items that need to go to the goodwill.  Then there’s the lists of ideas and crafts I really would love to do… but I feel as thought I don’t have time, and that I need to be on top of my game, perfect at accomplishing these things, and keeping an organized life and home.  I do an “okay” job but occasionally feel incredibly guilty that I am not better at these things. 

One to-do that I did manage to do was to get the basement relatively clean for our company this past weekend.  But therein still lies an issue where do we put the baby toys that F doesn’t use anymore?  We need to go through our Christmas stuff, do I pull it all out now or do I wait until Christmas to go through it??  There are stacks of Christmas CD’s and cassette tapes, floppy discs and zip drives that show my age (and I swear, I’m not that old!)  but my mind races what do I DO with those?  Trash?  Outdated formats, no one wants them, yet they are a part of my life that is hard to get rid of. 

So I borrowed a book from my boss called First Things First by Franklin Covey (they make the daily planners) and I am excited to get into it.  It had me hooked in the first few lines.  Hopefully I can learn to be a little bit more organized.  I can’t expect miracles here, but a little at a time.  Another book I am waiting to read is Pretty Neat… which may help me overcome the idea that I need to be PERFECTLY organized. 

We shall see.  On my list for today?  Accomplish ONE thing that I really want to do- whether it’s finally tossing those cassette tapes, or putting our 2010 pictures onto a cd… my goal is to do something that will make me feel accomplished.  That way, I am learning to take small baby steps.

(and as soon as I say that, my mind FILLS with things I’d love to get done- ooh, clean off the office shelves, or I could re-organize my drawers… the list goes on and on)

Sam and I had been in the yard doing yard work.  I put Finn in the jumper and went into the shed to get the hacksaw to get rid of our cedars that have been ravaged by bad weather.  I opened the shed, reached to the right, saw some flowers on the floor, thought “huh” and grabbed the saw, and walked away.  Sam yelled “JERK” at me when he saw I had been in there.  I told him I only saw flowers, but he didn’t believe me.  So he and Finn went into the shed and pulled out my mother’s day present. 

A shiny new hybrid Trex bike.  Finn just wanted to touch it and sit on it.  It was beautiful, and officially my very first bike.  We quickly went into the basement and got the trailer that my friend Debbie had given me at least a year ago.  We attached it to the bike and took it for a test spin, making sure Finn was relatively happy.  Oh, he was.  So we went for a little jaunt in the neighborhood.  I love it, and Finn enjoyed it. 

During the bike ride I felt it.  Just overcome with happiness and gratitude for all the things in my life that the Lord has blessed me with.  An incredibly loving husband, a beautiful baby boy, income enough to have such a frivolous mothers day present, and a healthy able body to ride my new bike.

Best part?  That wasn’t even ON Mothers day.  Sunday we went to church and then spent the day at Sam’s moms house with all the family, enjoying each others company and the perfect weather.  We had a rousing game of Kickball (bringing back the old school) and played kids versus adults.  Guess who won?  Then I sat with Finn on the lawn and watched Sam play tag and hide and seek with the kids.  Eventually we packed up and went home, putting munchkin down to bed and Sam and I got to just sit together and watch tv.  Relaxing.

I am still in shock that I am a Mother, and it only makes me appreciate all the mothers out there, the mothers who raised my friends, my friends who are becoming mothers. 

I am especially thankful for Sam’s mother, Barb, as she sets an amazing example for us all and raised my *fantastic* husband.

Most of all, I could never forget MY mother, who helped shape me into the woman I am today.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything you have ever done for me.    There are no words.

I know you want to hear the story. 

Here goes-  so this morning… prince was sleeping in bed with me after a 6 oclock breakfast, and I left him there to take a shower (a-ok because he’s not rolling around yet) and when I came back I woke him up and I saw that some pee had leaked out of his diaper.  Fine.  Easy.  (I’d leave it there for Sam to sleep in if it was only that little dot… just kidding)  So I began undressing him and changing his diaper.  (do you see where this is going?  You may have an inclination, but I promise you, it gets better) 

Of course, I didn’t get the new diaper on fast enough before he starts peeing, and I mean, he was unloading that thing.  So I gave a startled cry and was like, “what are you doing!” and made him smile, and stop peeing.  So I grabbed his pee clothes and covered his doodle until I could get the diaper on.  Took the clothes off to get the diaper on, and bam, more pee.  I look at him, and I think I said “Finnegan!” and he stops. 

Nothing short of amazing, this kid.   So I am maneuvering him around so I can get the diaper on.  I finally get the diaper under his butt and over his doodle and I said, okay you can finish peeing now.  And he finishes.  On command.  Even more amazing.  Then, he starts bearing down.  Oh no.  Then I think, it’s okay, the diaper is under his butt.  NOT FULLY.  Diaper was covering one cheek… so a good portion of the poop gets on the bed.  Then his foot as I’m trying to get him up without getting covered in poop myself.  So, here I am holding a naked baby under the spigot and laughing.  As I’m drying him off with Sam’s towel (nice, right) he spits up on it.  Not too much, but enough.  Clean that off, and I get him all dressed and nice and clean.  Sit him in his little bouncer seat. 

Not three minutes go by (as I’m realizing that I need to completely change as there is pee on my pants, and oh, look, poop on my shirt) and I hear him grunting and pooping again.  No problem, he’s got a diaper on.  So I leave him there while I throw the bed sheets in the washer.  Pick him up. 

 Yup.  Poop through the back of his outfit.

 I couldn’t help but laugh.  What’s that line, “if we didn’t laugh we would all go insane” Isn’t that the truth.

 Finally had a clean and sleepy boy and got him to Jess’s at 8:30 (half hour late) and then I go banging his car seat around trying to get him out of the car and wake him up.  *sigh*

 Anyway, that was my morning.  (oh, then I spilled hot coffee on my hand… to top it off)

 How was YOURS??  (I bet I win? Yes.)

I thought a great idea would be to try to patch it.   Sam knew that wasn’t a likely story.  He said, “I’m worried that I’m going to get in there and it’s not going be a patch job, it’ll just prove that we need to completyely re-do the bathroom sooner than we had planned.”  Which, by the way, wasn’t on our immediate list.  Although, to look at it, you would hope and pray it WAS on the top of our list.

Why not?  Well, because in order to completely renovate a bathroom (and I mean completely) you need to have access to ANOTHER bathroom, correct?  Correct.  Which we don’t have.  We had thought that through, and decided that we would install a full bathroom downstairs in the basement before we tackled the upstairs bath. 

That’s not happening anymore. 

Don’t worry, I will tell him “you were right” over and over, because he was.

He sat on the edge of the tub, spackle tool in hand, and began to chip away the old (did I mention PINK) tile, and more drywall came with it.  Oh yea, it came out that easily.  More tile in order to get to the studs (if you know anything about patching a big hole, you know you need to get to the studs in order to fasten the new durarock or green board to the wall) and more tile.  Then we began noticing the mold that was living back there.  Oh yes, and the ant colony (so THATS WHERE THEY WERE COMING FROM!)  Sam and I sat there and looked at it.  Crap, the entire bathroom needs to be torn down, gutted and redone.

Part of me rejoices.  I mean, look at this thing.  I’ve made it as pretty as possible without spending too much money.  And part of me thinks, we weren’t planning on this for a while, but more of me rejoices.  =)

So far we’ve agreed on white subway tile from tub to ceiling, a natural colored stone for the floor, and Sam is going to build a “built in” bookcase for linens.  We plan on buying a new vanity from my work (I work at a Cabinetry company) and new mirror and light fixtures.  You know, the whole she-bang.  Kind of like this eye candy.

We also decided that in order to facilitate an easier renovation, and in order to primarily keep me and the munchkin safe- we’re going to call the mold guys (who removed the mold in our basement prior to settlement) and the exterminator (who tested our house for yucky crawly things) in order to take care of what’s lurking behind the rest of those tiles.

The reason?  Bathroom Renovation.  Our lovely split foyer only has a single bath.  Which needed gutting.  And putting back together.

The new digs?  Close friends.  Amazingly enough, our friends like us.  I mean, they like us enough to let us LIVE with them.  This is the SECOND set of friends who have willingly opened their home to us (this time with a baby who could potentially make some noise) and are allowing us to stay with them for the duration of the renovation.  (poet, I know)

We are incredibly thankful for friends like ours, and hope to “pay it forward” if not with them, then with others.

As for the renovation, it’s been quite slow going.  First, in order to ease my worried mind, we got the mold guys out there to clean and “eradicate” any signs of mold.  Yes, I’ve been taking pictures.  I plan on putting them up as soon as I am in my house for more than 1 hour at a time.

Every. step. of. the. way.

We’re hoping to be back in our old digs when the toilet is installed.  I mean, my co-workers don’t care if I stink for a few days… right?  =)

But folks, here’s the proof that this is at LEAST 50% my genes.

ESPECIALLY when seen side by side- he’s definitely got my cheeks.  So, now I can rest assured, this kid does resemble his mama, and not only in chunk.  =)