A happy, nice Friday... that was semi-sunny.

Gage and I woke up and headed over to my parent's house to try and burn off some Gage energy. The day was sunny and bright and I was so excited that we would be able to play outside today. My mom called me as we were on our way and asked if we wanted to have lunch before we took Gage to the park. Since it was 11:50 AM, I told her sure. We decided that she would just watch for us and meet us out front. We went and had Greek food, and Gage had a grilled cheese. Sort of. He also played with keys, said "roar!" at a floral arrangement a whole bunch, and threw lots of stuff on the floor. He ALSO colored for the very first time. We've tried to get him to color on kid's menus a lot of previous times, but today he actually did. It was pretty neat, and I brought the page home to show Brian, who was properly amused. Now I'm fighting the urge to put it on the fridge. I had to fight some serious pride when the hostess came over and asked how old Gage was, and when I told her he was 17 months, said, "How is it that he colors so well, and my 22-month-old daughter isn't interested in coloring at all?!" It's because Gage is cooooool. It's actually because kids are all developmentally different, and there's no sense in comparing, but c'mon. I get to have momma pride from time to time. He's a prodigy, I tell ya! He put crayon to paper. Haha.

After lunch, we headed back towards my parents' house, where we planned to walk Gage to their park that's about a block and a half from their house. As we pulled into their neighborhood, it stated to sprinkle. As we got into their house, it started to pour. We bundled Gage into his slicker and my mom and I into ponchos and headed out into the yard in the rain. (I'm pretty sure my dad took some pictures of me in the poncho. That makes me sad because the ponchos are their camp ponchos. I swear I could smell camp toilet on mine. It was bright orange in addition to smelling like camp toilet, although that was probably psychosomatic.) He ran around the yard like a mad man for a while and enjoyed the fact that everything was slippery and the grass is really long. After he'd fallen on his butt about 1,000 times (oh, I'm exaggerating, he probably fell about 950 times) the rain slowed down, and we decided to take advantage of the spotty clouds and head to the park. Armed with slicker (for Gage) and umbrella (for adults) we walked to the park. Gage proceeded to go down the slides many times, go up the slides about as many times (with adult assistance, of course) and even go down the BIG kids slide, which he would not be dissuaded from. He had a blast and proved beyond a reasonable doubt that he is, indeed a very serious daredevil. Be still my racing heart, he is going to put me through what I put my mom through, in terms of all the racing and what-not. Ack.

When it started to sprinkle and Gage decided the stairs to the slide were a good place to lay his head, we called it a day and headed back. Good thing, too, because he threw a massive tantrum on the way back to my parents' house. My dad walked ahead to go get the mail and Gage flipped; he wouldn't hold my hand, he didn't want to ride in the stroller, he didn't want to PUSH the stroller, and he didn't want to be carried. I explained his options, but he wasn't having any of them. Since when I tried to hold his hand, he tried to wrench away or lay down, the only option was a stroller ride for safety. He banged his head on the stroller and shrieked like he was being stabbed. After a little while, he calmed down and I asked if he wanted to walk and hold my hand. He grabbed my hand from the stroller, and when I got him down, I explained that we were all going to where Poppa was, and he could walk and hold my hand. He did so calmly, and was very pleased when we caught up with my dad. After a snack I brought him home.

We got home amidst heavy rains and waited in the car until it quieted down enough that I could take him in without getting him soaked. When we got home, the apartment smelled awesome due to the green chile pork roast I had cooking in the crock pot. Brian got home, we ate, and the food was DELICIOUS. Even Gage liked the green chile pork roast - so much so that he had his VERY FIRST EVER bite of food, unassisted, from a utensil. He speared a piece of pork on his baby fork and popped it right into his mouth! Brian threw his arms up, I clapped giddily, and Gage looked at us like the coolest thing ever had just happened. It was really cool!

After dinner, we decided to take a rain walk. It was pretty clear, not TOO cold; so we bundled up Gage, threw his rain cover in the stroller basket, and headed out. We walked a little over 3 miles, covered new territory, marvelled at the beautiful storm cloud formations, found a pond/wetland, and overall really enjoyed ourselves. We also found some cool townhomes that we wish we lived in because, well, they probably don't have mouse-infested balconies. The balcony, it is still dead to me. Anyway. It was a terrific Friday with some sun, some storms, and lots of good times. I sure do love my family.

Happy Anniversary to me!

Happy Anniversary to my fantastic husband. Brian makes my every day a little brighter. He lights up every dark facet of my life and makes everything better. I can't imagine life without him, and May 19, 2007 will always be one of the best days of my life.

I haven't been feeling very bloggy lately. We have been having miserable weather, Gage hasn't been sleeping well, and I am having many, many hormonal issues. I don't try to make my blog a place where life seems perfect, but I don't think you want to hear me make lengthy complainy posts. So when things are a little tough, I tend to just get a little quiet.

I'll be back soon, hopefully with more news than what I've currently got, which is roughly none. Weaning? Not working. Developing independent sleep habits? Nothin' doing. I have a lot of research to do, and I'll have some time to do it soon. Starting next week, I'll be spending pretty much every day at home, with only trips out for grocery shopping. Why would I do this?

I really want to get Gage on a schedule. I think that's the key to this whole sleep mess, and I can't get him on a schedule without being home. Otherwise he naps in the car, then won't nap at the house or go to bed at a decent hour, depending on the time of the car nap. The only exception will be Wednesday, when Brian and I are celebrating our anniversary, and when I promised my friend Andria that we would go to her daughter's preschool graduation. So if anyone wants to see us, you'll have to come visit! I think we can still swing lunches with my father in law on Monday too; I will just have to keep Gage awake all the way home! Fun times.

Hopefully it will make a difference! Anyway, see y'all soon. Can't believe Brian and I are four years married and nine and a half years together!

Wild and wacky Wednesday

If your idea of wild is trying to stay dry in the rain and snow. In mid-May. Good ol' Colorado weather. The only thing you can count on is that you can't count on the weather. It was some much needed moisture though. It has been really dry here! It was just a little bit of a bummer because my mom and I had planned on shopping for pool floaties, baby pool, and outdoor sand box today. So that was a bit of a strange shopping excursion in this weather! More about that in a bit.

Can I ask you to pray for the south again? Now they're being hit with massive flooding. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

So this morning, my parents came and picked up the little fella so I could go to a doctor's appointment without a little spectator. Then I was meeting my parents and son at my parent's house. As I left the doctor, it was hailing on me. 35 degrees, according to the Subaru. Got to my parents, and my mom and I set out for lunch and shopping. We took my parent's super awesome Nissan Murano since the car seat was already in it, and it was in the garage. It is fun to drive the Murano because it feels like a bus compared to my little Sube. We met my sis-in-law for lunch, and then she decided to join the shopping excursion as well.

We started at Toys/Babies R Us for a baby pool for Gage to have at my folks', a floaty for him to have at the pool here, and a sand box. We ended up finding the floaty and the pool, as well as swim diapers, swim diaper cover, another ball (Gage has many), a couple toy trucks, and a bubble mower. We did not find an adequate sized sand box. We decided to check out Walmart, where my mom got a vat of bubbles, a welcome mat, and a Royal Wedding edition of People magazine. But no large sand box. I did notice in that particular Walmart, they have all the summer stuff right up front... next to the memorial flower arrangements. Is that not creepy?!

Anyway, after Walmart, Gage was done shopping; he had run out of fun times. So we went back to my parent's house, I swapped the car seat back into the Subie, and we struck out for home.

Hopefully Friday we can actually try out Gage's new pool set up.... but I won't hold my breath. I'm counting on the weather to do the opposite I want!

Tuesday with Gage... never a dull moment!

Gage is currently obsessed with three things. It makes him a little extra hilarious, very amusing, and sometimes just the littlest bit irritating. I will tell you about his three current obsessions. I imagine you will crack up!

1) Gage has realized that he can grab your hand and take you to what he wants. A lot of the time, on the way to showing us what he wants, he forgets where he is going or gets distracted, drops your hand, and starts doing something else. He won't like it if you go back to doing whatever you were doing before, though. He wants you to stand there while he does whatever he got distracted by. He has started "asking" to watch A LOT of TV, which he shows you by dragging you to the TV and pointing to the remote. He doesn't watch hardly any TV, so this is kind of surprising to us! Guess he wishes he watched more. Goofy kid.

2) Gage is obsessed with going places. Outside for walks, outside to go to the park, car rides to somewhere (anywhere), it doesn't matter. He will drag you to the front door repeatedly and grab the handle, then point at you, then back at the door handle as if to say, "Hello, open this and let's go somewhere already!!" It is really funny, unless it is 11:00 at night and he is refusing to sleep because he wants to go somewhere. Then it isn't too funny at all! When all you want to do is sleep and he wants to go somewhere... it is the tiniest bit irritating. Until he smiles up at you or gives you a hug, then all is right with the world.

3) Gage is currently obsessed with books. This is really cool! I love that he is so into being read to right now! We were going to go to story time at the library this morning, but I woke up with a crushing headache and forgot about going until it was 10 minutes until story time. Then I felt like a failure with a crushing headache. I hate forgetting things that are for Gage. So we are going to try story time Thursday instead. But we've made up for it by reading tons of books today! Over and over and over....

We also went to Target and did a little shopping. I also got a sun hat so when Gage and I go to the pool I don't get a wicked burn on my face. Tomorrow, my mom and I are going shopping for a floaty for Gage to use and some water/sand toys for her to keep at their house for him. Should be fun for all! I can't wait to take Gage to the pool. I have a feeling we'll be going a lot!

I have sure been looking forward to spring and summer this year. Gage is gonna love it!

Weekend Update: Happy Mother's day!

I hope you're having a nice one, if you're a mom, and if you're not, I hope you did something nice for your mom. We took my mom a plant, pastry, and cake. She loved it, and Gage loved playing in my parent's yard. He is tuckered out but of course he napped in the car for an hour, so no nap at home.

Yesterday, we took two really nice, long walks, one to the park so Gage could play and the other around our area. We also went to Walmart for a couple things, got one of their make-at-home pizzas, and were sad to discover the ham on it was grey-blue. So needless to say, we didn't eat it. I called and they said to bring he receipt in and they'd credit us back. Unfortunately, they hadn't given us a receipt. Sigh.

I guess that's all I have for now. We are trying to get Gage comfortable with his crib again, which will take a little time. Our attempts at cry it out made him hate the crib; he fusses as soon as you even start to put him in it. So that's a hurdle to be overcome. Seems we have a lot of hurdles right now.

Anyway, hope you had a very enjoyable weekend and mother's day.

Finally Friday!

It's almost the weekend, yay! So I didn't do a Things I like Thursday yesterday because I had nothing I was particularly into. That makes two weeks in a row, so probably I won't be regularly doing that anymore. Once in a while probably!

Gage has made no more sleep progress, but starting tonight we will work on night weaning. I still think that is really important for him right now. He has not been very interested in sleeping til around 10:30-11:00 PM. Hopefully this too shall pass! He is clingy today but doesn't seem sick or anything. Just seems to need sons momma time which is just fine.

I'm a little down today. Not sure why, but I think I'll just chalk it up to hormone fluctuations. It's nice to have Gage wanting to be close on a day I'm feeling down!

I don't really have anything else exciting to talk about! Enjoy your weekend!

Time to redouble efforts....

And PRAY, PRAY, PRAY for our troops. Huge thanks to my sister-in-law for letting me know Osama bin Laden is dead. That is wonderful news to be sure! We were letting Gage watch his all time favorite show, the Upside Down Show, while he had a snack before bed. When Cara texted me, we were getting into bed. I verified with Fox News on my phone and sure enough, there was the news.

The Taliban is sure to retaliate. Pray for the USA, pray for our troops, please!!! This is a wonderful day for us... and a scary, uncertain one, too.