Being Sara

Just in case anyone reading this isn’t already aware, we celebrate Parker’s half birthdays.  He was born at the end of December, and it’s not a great time for anyone to get together to celebrate a birthday when we’re all busy celebrating Christmas and New Year’s.  We decided before his first birthday that we would acknowledge the day with a brunch for family, but not celebrate with a party or presents until the summer.  It’s worked out well.  Parker gets his special day, and he isn’t sad about it being in the summer instead of winter.  We kind of like kicking off the summer with Parker’s party and then ending it with Xander’s party.  This year Parker’s wasn’t really at the start of the summer, but we’ll get back into the swing of things next year.

So, we celebrated.  Lots of people came and it was a great afternoon.  Pretty hot, but not bad in the shade.  Parker got his cake (which was really his primary focus for the day) and wound up with some really fun toys.  He is finally getting to an age where he has friends that he likes to play with, and a few of them came – it was great to see him playing so well with them.  Making this little boy happy was totally worth the 7+ hours of cleaning I did along with the 4-ish hours we drove to have a free day to clean, plus all of the hours in the hot sun Zach spent working in the yard.  We always say parties are a good excuse to make sure your house is really clean…

He is a stereotypical two year old, fiercely independent one minute, and desperate to cling to my leg the next.  His speech is getting better and better by the day, and the things he says are so freaking cute, most people can’t help but mimic everything he says – we’re guilty of it too, but if I were him, I’d be sick of people copying me by now…  Just recently he’s been in to ‘singing’ his A,B,C’s but can only do it if he’s watching someone and mimicking them (oh, the irony).  He can count to 16, but won’t do it anytime we want to show off his new skill of course.  He tries his hardest to keep up with his older brother and manages to succeed most of the time.  His imagination is phenomenal and he can play make believe with his brother for lengthy periods of time.  I am still the favorite, but sometimes Dad can kiss a boo-boo.  And he melts my heart every day when he calls out ‘I love you Mommy’ as I’m walking out the door.  He doesn’t always make it easy, but I’m still head over heels in love with this little guy.

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I tried to convince Xander to take a mulligan on his 3rd year – to just have a do-over because I’m not ready to have a 4 year old, but he wasn’t interested.  4 years.  It just keeps running through my head – 4 years.  I’ve been a parent for 4 years now.  And 4 years later I waffle between self-satisfaction that I have something figured out and complete frustration that 4 years later I still don’t have anything figured out.

But somehow, despite all of my fumbles and missteps, we managed to grow a pretty awesome kid.  He is even-keeled and happy to go with the flow most of the time.  He has an excellent sense of humor, and the sweetest personality ever.  He is a wonderful big brother, and although they argue at times, they mostly get along.  If you ask Xander what he wants for his birthday, he’ll tell you he wants either a train set or a Christmas tree for his brother.  But if you press him on what he wants, he can’t really tell you anything specific (not sure if that means he’s spoiled or just completely satisfied with life).

I know it won’t always be this way but right now we have a kid who is happy to see us always and who is a lot of fun to hang out with.  Most people say that it’s not the terrible two’s, it’s the terrible threes.  We didn’t really experience that, and hopefully year 4 will be just as much fun as the last 3.  I love that little man more than any words I can put on this blog.  Happy Birthday Squish!

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Three years ago today I was admitted to the hospital at 4am.  Zach and I had no idea what was in store for us that day.  After a long, long day at 6:39pm, we finally met our first born son, Xander.  You can read the gory details here if you’re interested.  Since then we have been equal parts amazed, entertained, proud, and exasperated by our son.

Xander has the ability to make us laugh until we cry.  While he can’t recite many traditional songs, he makes them up on the fly and even gives them titles.  Recently he has offered to sing at Zach’s meetings (I personally think that would be the high point for some of them).  Xander loves chocolate milk.  We compromise by giving him Ovaltine in milk (less sugar and more vitamins).  He hates to go to sleep, but also doesn’t really like waking up – it sometimes takes him 30 minutes or so to be ready to rejoin the conscious world.  Xander loves all things “boy” – tractors, trucks, cars, balls, bats, swords, pirates.  Although he embraces his maleness, he can also be very sensitive – he worries about monsters and bad guys.  His feelings get hurt if one of his friends picks on him or takes a toy he wants, and he hasn’t quite figured out how to handle those feelings yet.

My boy loves anything pasta related.  He loves carrots, but refuses to eat any other vegetables.  He does not like pizza.  He loves strawberries.  You and watch a video of him reading about a strawberry here.  In the past year or so he has discovered the wonders of sweets and now like any typical kid, would much prefer to eat cookies and candy as a meal (though he has yet to convince his parents of the benefits of this dietary decision).

Xander has outgrown the Curious George television show, but still sleeps with two Curious George stuffed animals at night.  He still laughs at Little Einsteins, and continues to enjoy an occasional Phineas and Ferb.  His favorite movie at the moment is Iron Giant.  My boy loves everything in his world to match – he wants his underwear to match his shirt, which should match his socks and shoes, and his little brother should have the exact same outfit.  His favorite color is orange.  He also likes to match his parents, which can be challenging….  There are many days that he will refuse to wear this jacket or that sweatshirt because Parker does not have a matching one.  Since I’m a fan of individuality, I haven’t really sought out many matching outfits for my son, so this can at times prove to be a challenge.

Xander can count to 11.  He knows his shapes and colors and most of his letters (though his recitation of the alphabet is still missing a few.. and he is certain that l-m-n-o is one letter…).  He has thought and reasoning that has at times stunned us.  (Mama, can we go to the park? No, it’s dark and time for bed.  Mama, can we go in the morning? No, we have work and school.  Mama, how about we go to the park first, and then to work and school?).  He is good with direction, and often can identify where we are going well before we get there (this way to my school, this way to Nana’s house, etc.).  There are times when his memory astounds us.  On Wednesday this week he mentioned the monkey that my former boss, JoAnn gave him back in January after Parker was born – and remembered JoAnn’s name, and the fact that she carried his presents in a basket.

Although he’s inconsistent, he can regularly get a ball into a full-size basketball hoop (and often complains that his toddler sized hoop is too short) and can sometimes hit a ball with a bat (and never seems to tire of that game…) Xander recently learned how to “pump” on a swing.  He isn’t great at it yet, but he can make himself move back and forth.  He can jump from a moving wagon and land on his feet (yes, he is terrifying).   My boy frequently makes friends and family nervous with his antics (so much so that someone often volunteers to “spot” him) but his father and I have developed an immunity to many of his antics.

“They” say that three is harder than two.  We have certainly encountered some more challenging power struggles lately, but all-in-all we have somehow managed to produce one amazing kid.  People sometimes tell us what a great kid we have, and we say thank you but in the back of my head I’m thinking that I shouldn’t really be taking the credit – I think most of Xander’s amazingness comes from him, and not from any outside influences.  Our amazing kid is three years old today, and I can’t wait to see what is in store for us next!  Happy Birthday son.

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Our first family photo

It’s a bit surreal to think about where Xander, Zach and I all were two years ago at this time.  I think it’s even stranger for me this year, as I’m pregnant again (though admittedly not nearly as pregnant as I was 2 years ago).  Xander was just about to meet the world, I was working at an entirely different job, Zach was years away from being promoted to his current position.  I hadn’t met most of the people I see every day now, and although we had already lined up a day care slot for Xander, I didn’t know or trust those day care providers the way I do now.  I think our whole family has changed and grown quite a bit over the past two years, but it is of course Xander’s changes that are the biggest and most obvious.

It’s amazing to think about how much Xander has grown and changed in the past year.  His first year was full of changes and developments, and the more obvious ones were physical changes – sitting, rolling, crawling, walking, etc.  Between years one and two the changes have seemed to be more verbal.  He’s gone from the super basic “da” and “ma” to three and four word sentences.  He has developed preferences and opinions and is not shy about sharing them.  For Zach and me the communication piece has been huge – it’s allowed us to understand Xander’s needs better, and learn more about who he is.

Xander's First Birthday - mmm, cake...

We have a fairly big birthday party planned for tomorrow.  It’s Curious George themed – we’re grilling hamburgers and hot dogs, and we’ve got cupcakes and ice cream for dessert.  I’m told the weather should be beautiful (yay!) so presumably most of the party will take place in the yard, which Xander will be perfectly happy about.  Xander’s best friend from day care is coming – last year we just had our friends and family, so this is a new and exciting development.  This boy is about a month older than Xander, and ironically, his mother is pregnant and due about a week before I am.

I’m sure it’ll be a great day – we always enjoy seeing all of our friends and family, and I think Xander will have a great time.  Zach and I are dreading the amount of stuff that will accumulate after the party.  I will never be the parent who tells people not to bring presents for their child.  On the other hand, I have no idea where the heck we are going to put all of these presents…

I hope you all have a wonderful September 20th – we’ll be spending it celebrating my first born’s birthday

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Well, we have started to plan Xander’s first birthday party. I feel like the first one is a big deal, and so I’m trying not to screw it up too much. Since Xander doesn’t really have friends of his own yet, we’re inviting friends and family over for a barbecue in the afternoon, the Saturday after Xander’s birthday.

A few of our friends have kids of their own, who will hopefully attend, so I’m planning on making up goodie bags for them, but not for the adults, hopefully that’s ok. I’m thinking that I’ll try to find a cupcake cake (one of those cakes made out of cupcakes with some sort of unified frosting image), as cupcakes are a heck of a lot easier than an actual cake, and I’m definitely not confident enough in my baking abilities to make anything edible for a large crowd.

As most of the group will be adults, I’m assuming that eating, visiting, and opening presents will be enough activity for them. I’ll pull some of our lawn games out for the more athletically inclined guests, but I’m betting that most people will prefer to simply nibble food and chat with friends/family.

I’ve put Zach in charge of balloons, but other than that duty, the rest of the party preparations are my responsibility. All of the party supplies that I need to order have already been delivered. I’ve got the invitations going out in the mail tomorrow (a few days later than I would have preferred, but that was due to circumstances beyond my control). I don’t need to rent or reserve anything, so the rest of the prep work can wait until the weekend before the party when we’ll do some serious house cleaning and party supply shopping.

I read a comment today that talked about a lady buying gifts for all of the kids in her child’s day care, as well as the teachers who interact with her child. She was looking for suggestions on what to buy without spending too much money. Is that common practice? To buy gifts for kids and teachers in day care on your child’s birthday? I’m new to this, so if this is something I should do, I need to know about it soon so I can prepare gifts for the 30+ people at Xander’s day care. If anyone has any insight (on the gifts, or on first birthdays in general), I’d love to hear it!

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