Ramping up Festivities

We're  a couple of weeks away from Nico's birthday and we are starting to ramp up the preparations.  For one, there are there:

I ordered the Emergency shirt from CafePress a couple of weeks ago.  And the Chicago Police and Chicago Fire Department Shirts from the Kids Museum at Navy Pier.  Aren't they awesome?  We're also thinking about getting Nico, his first big kid bike (with the training wheels, of course).

Also, we are going to try a play date with a kid from Nico's school.  This kid's mom clued me into this: http://www.olearysfiretours.com/

I know right?  Can you imagine?  Not sure we are going to do this, but OMG, it looks like so much fun!!

Springtime and the Cards

We had such a great weekend!!  First, Dave and Nico went to the downtown get-down on Friday night.  I was in a time-crunch to get a video done for Madi Harris.  JJ was meeting with a coach he knows and wanted to show him video.  So that was my big project last week.  In case you are interested in it, here it is:

I need to fix a couple of things.  But I really like how it came out.  I feel kind of jipped though.  Back when I had to do my highlight tape, it was with actual tapes.  And if you screwed anything up, it was so hard to fix.  this, the most trying thing for me was having enough time to go through all the video we have, looking for the best Madi video.  

Then, Saturday morning, we went to Springtime Tallahassee with Graham.  There were firetrucks.  I think you can imagine how that went.  

Nico and Graham really do get along well.  We stayed at the parade for basically the whole thing, because Nico and Graham were having such a great time.  Usually we're like, "There are no more firetrucks?  Alright! Peace!!"  So that was fun.  Seriously, shouldn't Nico be a model?  He is incrediably adorable.  I hope he doesn't get ugly when he gets older, I dont want people to see pictures of him at this really adorable time in his life and be like, "Dude, what happened?"

Sunday we did some chores and played soccer.  It's funny how soft my skin gets when I haven't played in a while.  One dive and two slides and I have scrapes on my forearm, my hip and my left knee.  But I hadn't played in 6 months.  So I guess that is fair.  

Saturday night, I gave all the soccer stuff to Nick.  It's so weird.  It filled up the back of a SUV.  Uniforms, balls, coolers, pinnies, cones.  It's crazy.  I am going down to the county tomorrow to give them all their charms.  The charms are a tradition I started with them the first season that I coached them.  The first season on the team, I give them a bracelet with their name, WHS Girls Soccer, and the record for the season.  Then in subsequent years, we add another charm for the record, and other soccer charms, and their number.  It's one of the things I am most proud of, that I have done for them.  I know, it's strange. But I love the tradition.  

The Cards won on Saturday night.  Dave's boss had gotten him two tickets for the Championship game in Atlanta for tonight.  Dave asked me if I wanted to go... which let's be real here, any sports fan would want to.  But It doesnt seem right, I've only been in the picture for 9.5 years.  His best friend Christian has been cheering for the Cards with Dave for at least 20 years.  So, they are going to the game tonight and Nico and I are going to hang out at the house.  He doesn't know this, but item #141 on my bucket list is helping get Dave to see the Cards play in a championship game.  So, that is nice.  

Easter 2013

So, like an idiot, when I made my transportation plans to and from Chicago, I didnt realize that I would be coming back Easter weekend.  Which is kind of annoying, since Easter is one of my favorite holidays.  Luckily, Dave took Nico to Premier on Saturday for an egg hunt (after the "Spring Bunny" made an appearance at his school on Friday- apparently Nico is pretty boss at finding eggs... which is a step up from where he was two years ago, where he was terrible at it.)

The Easter Bunny brought Nico some fire trucks and some candy.  Turns out one of the firetrucks was a collector's item.  Which is no longer in it's box.  Yikes.

I ordered a Chicago Fire Department Sweatshirt from CafePress before I left.  I had it sent to Chicago, thinking I would put it in a box with some candies and other stuff (a care package, if you will), but it didnt get to Chicago till my last day there, so I ended up just bringing it home... which the boy loved!!

Isn't Dave photo bombing Nico funny?

The Firefighter Routine

This is one of Nico's favorite things to do.  He is "sleeping" when I ring the alarm.  He wakes up, slides down the pole, and grabs his "ticket" (which tells where the fire is), then jumps in the fire truck and takes off.



I love it.
Not much happening around here.  I got a bunch of my friends together on facebook to have a garage/yard sale.  Someone invited someone else, who turns out to be REALLY bossy and she kind of took it over.  I guess that is okay, except that the sale ended up not being on the day I wanted, or the place I wanted.  But I guess I won't get my dander up about it.

This means that I am going through all Nico's clothes.  Even the new born stuff that I have been holding onto.  Right now, his old baby clothes take up half his closet.  So I am trying to only keep the things that have a lot of meaning (like the three sweaters that Granny You has made him- and all the UL shirts and onesies).  But I am really looking forward to getting rid of a LOT of stuff.

And Dave better watch himself- because I might get rid of some of his stuff too.:)

Firefighter Nico

I am barely hanging on... all I have to do is make it to December 21.  Soccer season is in full swing now- we are doing well, I think we're 11-3, not bad.  Although most of those wins arent against legitimate teams.

Its just been crazy- like last night we played in Madison- I didnt get back till midnight and Nico was asleep, back in the office at 6am, because I gotta boogie at 3pm to get down to the county for a game.  We're almost there... and Nico is almost old enough to come to games, which is awesome.  He is still hit or miss- when we were at Rickards, he wanted to run the track during the game.  When we were at home against East Gadsden, he was a peach and sat on the bench with me.  And snuggled.  When he can come to the games and entertain himself and run around and tear stuff up, we will be all the way there.  And that will be awesome.

Nico is really feeling his firefighter gear lately.  We havent been able to find his hat- so I guess its about time Santa take care of that.  I think Nico is probably going to ask for a mask too, when we go see Santa.  He asks pretty much everyday when we are going to see Santa... which is weird.  I am not sure what all that is about...I wonder if he is planning on actually speaking to him :)

The good news is that I got a request for a phone interview. It's a research associate job- helping people do research and conducting my own research.  Its a good school too.  Not tenure track, but I don't even care.  So that is good.

And then there is this:


This was at the park last week.  I am probably a bad mom for taking video instead of helping.  But seriously, the try before this?  He totally did it by himself when I was on the other side of the playground.

We got a christmas tree this weekend.  Yay!!  It is up, but not decorated yet.  :(  But hopefully, Nico and I can take care most of that on Wednesday.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween ended up being pretty fun.  I had an epic win yesterday, when I swung into Walmart on the way down to the county for practice.  I found firefighter boots to complete Nico's outfit.  Seriously.  How adorable!!  Can't you just eat him up?

He was pretty excited about putting the costume on.  He loves the suspender/bib part of the pants.  Thinks it's pretty funny.  We went to the Lafayette Park area of town, where they close off streets and people take Halloween WAY too seriously.  Lots of houses decorated and people having parties.  I am not sure, but I think the neighborhood must have some sort of contest on decorating the outside of one's house because there were lots of houses with elaborate decorations.  Which is awesome.

Next year, Dave and I must acquire a wagon for next year.  One, so that when nico gets tire of walking, we can stick him in there.  But also, so that we can have a cooler full of adult beverages.  Not that this is the point of Halloween.  We did one street and Nico was pretty much done.

And speaking of which, someone is not really good at Halloween.  He goes up to houses and is so shy- he wont say "trick or treat".  At the end, we got him to say "Thank you."  But someone is going to have to step up his game.  I guess that is okay.  The world is full of kids who have no problem going up to adults and saying, "Give me some candy!"  I guess its not the worst thing if Nico is a bit shy.  We tried to meet Nico's friend Ovid, but I was not really clear on where they were, and they were on the way out as we were getting there.  :(

They are setting the fair up this week, and we have a date with the fish game.  Following the debacle with the "Skill/Crane" game at the Golden Corral in Taylor County, I promised Nico that when the fair comes to town, we'd go try to win a goldfish.  Yeah, want an exercise in difficulty?  Try to explain why you don't always win in those skill games?  To a three year old who is in phase 2 of a five phase melt down.  Not nearly as easy as you think.

In any case, in our house, the fair is kinda a big deal.  Street food, games, petting barn? How much fun can one have in 2 hours?  Exactly!! Friday night is Family Fun night and we are going to meet Ovid.  Hopefully they will have some fun together!!

On the verge of a mom Fail...

I am not too big a fan of Halloween.  Never have been.  Even before Nico was born, it always seemed like such beatdown.  I guess its mostly because I have difficulty striking that perfect balance between creative/original/yet culturally relevant.  Add to that my difficulty in buying store bought costumes and that basically means I find its too much work for basically one night of the year.  My past halloween costumes (as a grown up) have included Sarah Pallin, Monica Lewinsky, Cleopatra, Kenny (from Southpark), a blind person and Captain Elizabeth Lindy (one of the armed services personnel wrapped up in that whole Abu Gharib scandal).  Except for the year Dave and I went as the Blind Leading the Blind, I always eschewed "general" costumes.  Like "sexy witch" or "ghost" or whatever because it always felt wrong to be something that 10 other people were going to be.  I guess I felt like if I couldnt come up with a great halloween costume that no one else had, I didnt want to go at all.  I have no idea where this attitude comes from.  But alas, there it is.  Maybe from the fact that in high school my mom made formal dresses for Nicole and me.  

In any case, its been hard doing Halloween right for Nico.  Mostly because I don't have the time in my life to do it right.  I would love to be able to make Halloween costumes... but it seems I am too tired to be creative with it... that combines to a perfect storm of Nico wearing store-bought costumes and me not being really excited about them.  In any case, I got out in front of it this year and ordered a fireman costume on amazon.  It came with a stupid floppy hat, bib/overall pants and a jacket.  Luckily we are tossing the hat and going with the standard one that he has.  

That said, we dont have any boots.  I know that it probably doesnt really matter- because you probably arent going to be able to see them anyways.  But I looked at Target and ToysRus to no avail.  I will run into the Walmart down in the county on the way to practice. But its not looking promising.  Add that to the fact that we never got around to actually carving the pumpkins.  And he painted them.  With the baby sitter.  I had her send me a pic.  It kind of makes me sad for Nico. His parents are so busy they couldnt even carve a pumpkin with the poor kid.  Hopefully running around midtown tonight trick or treating with his little friend Ovid will make up for it.   

Bracing his legs...

One of my favorite things that Nico is doing lately is saying, "I love you so much."  He doesnt always say it, and I am not sure he even knows what it means.  But he says it like I do, with the emphasis the same way I say it.  He usually says it when he snuggles up close to me for something, like if we are on the couch watching TV or I am holding him before bed.  It's pretty much the best thing EVER.

A couple of weeks ago, he started going through a weird clingy phase.  I was trying to work out a lot at the gym, so we'd go after work and he'd hang out in the kids room.  And he was staying with the sitter a couple nights a week, so I thought that might be what his malfunction was.  So we tried to cut down on the stuff that we do after work... and since it is staying light for later, this means we work in the garden almost every night.

He has a book about trucks that has a photo of firemen putting out a fire. He asked what they were doing with their legs and I told him that they were bracing their feet and legs, so they could hold onto the fire hose.  So now whenever we water the garden, Nico braces his legs:

We have another big weekend coming up.  Since no one wants to do a festival during football season, and its too bloody hot to do one during the summer, everyone and their mom does a festival in the Spring.

Can I share with you how much I am looking forward to Easter?  As we all know, it is one of my favorite holidays.  :)