Steamrolled by September

My last blog post was labeled "Goodbye August" and at this point I feel like this one should almost be labeled "Goodbye September".  September tends to steamroller me, but I have been trying to stay organized, stay on top of things and establish routines and this has probably been one of my better Septembers as a result.  I made a list of mini goals I want to accomplish.  Little things, like going to yoga two times in September and decorating the house for Halloween.  It is nice to have a list I can reach for when I have a few moments to really accomplish something, rather than just zone out in front of a screen.   One of my goals is to blog weekly which has been a challenge.  But here are a few updates. 

Isaac is in fourth(!!!) grade this year and is really showing a lot of maturity.  He is only going to the YMCA in the morning now.  In the afternoon he takes the bus home and lets himself in.  He has about 30 minutes until I come home with Hannah.  He has been really responsible with using that time until I come home to knock out his homework.  Part of his homework is always to read 30 minutes.  He has really stayed on top of that well without a  lot of nagging from me which I appreciate.   We recieved his PSSA scores in the mail and I was proud to see that he is advanced in math.  He is continuing with the viola and this year has started the trombone.  We are also fully in the swing of travel soccer.  His league this year includes teams in Delaware and Maryland, so it really is a lot of traveling.   It is a lot to keep track of but I am impressed with how well he can handle it. 

We made it out to my parent's house for dinner last weekend (another mini goal for September).  Isaac has been asking and asking so we squeezed a dinner trip out there on a busy weekend.  Isaac loves the basketball hoop there and even took some time to play with Hannah.  These pictures from that day have becomes favorites.  You can really just see how sweet he is to her. 

 

 

Hannah is still the light of my life.  She is trying and trying to walk and is getting better everyday. She loves to give herself applause for her efforts and then she knocks herself off balance and falls over.   She also loves to dance and will do so any time she hears music, even the organ playing the hymn at church gets her moving.  She is becoming really destructive curious.  She loves to tear apart Ryan's magazines and drop all kind of objects between the slats in our head boards.   Any open drawer is fair game for her to start unloading clothes.  She grabbed my tablet the other day and I discovered that she friend requested all kinds of people on facebook including my principal... awkward...

It is starting to feel like fall here finally.  A busy time of year for us but also my favorite time.

Happy Birthday Isaac!

It's hard to believe that my sweet baby boy turns nine today!  It seems like I blinked and he is all grown up.

Isaac has always had a special relationship with his uncles and aunt.  My sister commented last time she was home how fun he has become.  He has a large vocabulary, an observant nature and a sharp wit which makes the time we spend together truly enjoyable.

Isaac is always up for playing or watching any sport.  His favorite sports to play are soccer and football, although he is trying Little League this spring.  He is eagerly awaiting spring when my dad can install the new basketball hoop.  He remains a 

devoted wrestling fan.

Isaac is a technology whiz.  I count on him to help me work the TV, make sense of all of our remotes and troubleshoot issues with my phone.

He is a math whiz but his favorite class is gym.  He has faithfully practiced his viola every day this year.  He was thrilled to earn his "cursive license".  His nose is often in a book. 

Isaac has a photographic memory.  I can always count on him to remember where I park the car.  He also loves commercials and easily memorizes and recites them. 

Isaac is such a good helper.  Everyone wants to know how Isaac has adjusted to being ousted from his position of "only child".  I am pleased to report he has done great.  He had become a lot more self reliant and responsible for his own things.  He has become a young man overnight.

He is the sweetest big brother.  He always wants to hold his sister and interact with her.  He tries (and often succeeds!) with calming Hannah when she is fussy.  Although she doesn't give him a whole lot in return, he never gives up thinking of ways to entertain her.  He set up an entire "Baby Olympics" for Hannah including events such as baby luge, baby bobsled, baby ice dancing and (my personal favorite) baby curling.

I couldn't be prouder of the young man he has become.  I love you Isaac Matthew!  Happy 9th birthday!

Stir Crazy, Party of 3

We just got a call that school is cancelled again tomorrow because of lack of power in the schools.  Isaac has had only a half a day of school so far this week.  We are going CRAZY here at the house especially with several stints with no power.   The baby cocoon from Mom Mom Horne came in handy to keep Miss Hannah cozy with the heat off.

This is the first real dilemma I have had with the age gap between Isaac and Hannah.  My go to "get out of the house" activities of the movies or bowling simply won't work with a newborn.  My mom has plans tomorrow so we can't visit her. So I'm officially out of ideas.  We've baked cookies.

We've played board games.  We have read books. 

We've done the rainbow loom. We've all done a little bit of this:

We have watched more hours of TV than I care to admit.  My hat goes off to my home schooling friends because we are having  a bit of a rough time.

Conflicting feelings

I had some really weird and disturbing dreams the other night that I think highlight my ambivalence about returning to work.  On the one hand, I am so bored and lonely being home all day.  I think of the snow and extremely cold temperatures have made those feelings even worse.  It's hard not to feel resentful that Ryan gets to leave each day and carry on with everyday life while I am isolated at home trying to remember if I brushed my teeth that day or not.  My substitute called last week to ask me some questions and I couldn't believe how eager I was to jump into work mode for a few minutes.  Maybe it was just the chance to interact with a non-family member adult.  I'm surprised how much I miss my job.  

On the other hand, I look at Hannah and I can't imagine leaving her all day just yet.  I'm resentful that Ryan can go to work, but I am not really ready to return there.  She is just too little.  That was what happened in my dream.  I went to visit at school and all of a sudden I had all of this work to do and I was trying to explain to people that I was still on leave but no one was listening-- they just kept giving me more assignments.  It sounds silly to write it out but it was really upsetting.  I am also already starting to freak out about how I will do it all when I start back.  I am hardly staying on top of the bare minimum of what is required to keep this household running when I am home all day.  I am afraid to see what this house will look like once I throw 40 hours of work in the weekly mix.

 I wish there was some way to go back part time, to sort of have the best of both worlds-- something to alleviate the monotony and boredom of being at home without pulling me away for too long.  I did hear of a special Ed teacher in the district who was part time but from what I heard it ended up that she had a full caseload's worth of work and half the time to do it in.  No thanks. Oh well.  I am about halfway through my leave, so I am just going to try to make the most of it.  At least Miss Hannah will be in good hands with grandma when I have to return to work.  

Isaac had another snow day yesterday and it looks like another one tomorrow and maybe this weekend as well.  At this rate I will be in school until July.  I would much rather have my days off in the summer.  He did make it to soccer tonight which was good.  He is passing the time inside the house by putting in lots of practice time on the viola and by watching a ton of football.  He was just watching the 1982 Super Bowl.  It is so boring but there is nothing else to do.

Hannah is congested which has made her a little cranky and clingy.  I can feel a cold coming on too-- that icky feeling in my head and throat.  I don't know how I could have gotten sick since we rarely leave the house but it seems we have.  Probably from a binky that dropped somewhere disgusting and then was hastily shoved back in her mouth.  

 

That's about it for now folks.  

Every Rose Has It's Thorn

So yesterday it finally warned up to a balmy 29 degrees and I actually ventured out of the house and got some things done.  I even got dressed in a somewhat cute outfit and threw on a little make-up (didn't get the hair washed though-- baby steps) although I didn't take a picture.  In response to the house being overtaken with baby gear, I have been working on clearing out quite a few things to give away.  I sold a baby carrier I no longer need on a local yardsale website.  I gave away all of my maternity clothes (from both pregnancies!).  I culled through my books and made a pile of unread ones to keep on my nightstand to actually read and pulled some that I am done with to give to charity and friends.  I left a huge pile of stuff at Goodwill.  In the grand scheme of clutter in my house it is a baby step forward but it feels good to do something productive nonetheless.  

Hannah Banana is still not letting me get much rest.  Last few nights she did sleep the whole night in her bouncy seat which is a major improvement from me holding her all night.  At her well check, the doctor asked me if she was down to only one night feeding yet.  I must have had a death look on my face because she quickly backpedaled that there is a lot of variability among babies.  I guess some five week olds are only waking once but this five week old wakes at 11, 1, 3 and 5-- just as often as when I was breastfeeding.  To make matters worse, I am beyond exhausted but often find myself wide awake when she is sleeping each night.

Ryan and I went to finally install the immobilizer on her crib so that it would be safe for her to sleep in.  I figured I could try to at least have her nap there during the days.  We discovered we were still missing a part and when we called Simmons informed us that the crib was too old and they no longer carried the part.  So looks like this is the second free crib to end up on the curb in the trash pile due to missing parts. We will be heading out to get her a brand new one and hopefully three is a charm.  

Miss Hannah had her one month well check. She now weighs 10 pounds 4 ounces and is doing well according to the doctor.  She had a shot which left her terribly cranky all evening.  She really is not a fussy baby at all, so after two hours of inconsolable screaming I was ready to cry myself.  I loaded her into the car to meet Ryan for our Friday date night at Wegman's. She screamed and screamed until Every Rose Has It's Thorn by Poisen came on the radio.  Inexplicably, Hannah immediately stopped crying and fell asleep.  Apparently she likes the corny 80's power ballads like mom does.  I have to admit this morning when Hannah was fussing again, I found myself rocking her and singing "Eeeeeevery cowboy sings a sad, saaaaad sooooong."  You can't make this stuff up.

Isaac turns nine in a few weeks and has asked to have a birthday party.  He hasn't had one in a few years so I agreed.  He wants to have (what else?) a football party, so I am trying to make arrangements for that at the local sportsplex.  Honestly, hosting a birthday party for a bunch of boys is about the absolute LAST thing I feel like doing but Isaac has been such a trooper lately I am going to suck it up.  He was invited to a sleepover which got him out of grocery shopping with mom so he was happy about that.

That's about it for the Stephenson-Horne household.  It's been a good day.

Life Lately

1. My mom had Isaac for a whole week when I was starting on school.  Of course, they did all kinds of fun things and there were tears when it was time to come home.  One of his new favorite things to do is paint pottery with her.  This week she brought over this candy jar that was finally back from being fired.  How adorable is it?  I can't wait until October when we can get all Halloweeny up in here...

2. We had back to school night this week for Isaac.  His teacher described Isaac as a "riot" which made me feel relieved.  Of course *I* think he is a riot, but, let's just say, not everyone always finds him to be amusing.  His teacher's enthusiasm for science must be contagious, because he came home asking me if I had cornstarch so he could make his own oobleck.  It made a bit of a mess but he seemed to love it.

3. Ryan and I have been married for over six months now.  The other day I came home to find he had been hard core cleaning the house.  He had come up with this solution to our covers war.  I had to laugh when I discovered it but it has actually been working out well.

4.  As the lone female in this household for a few more months I am pretty much on my own while Isaac and Ryan are zoned out watching football.  I am trying, but I just can't get into it.  It's soooooooooo long.

5. It's the most wonderful time of the year!  Soccer season.  His first official league game was a terrible blow-out. They beat the other team 12-0.  Hopefully the next game is a little more fun to watch.  Go number 7!

First Day of School

Isaac has been asking for weeks when it will be time to go back to school.   He laid this outfit out several weeks in advance (purposely chosen to represent that he cared but not too much).  His schoolbag has been packed for at least 3 weeks with all of his new school supplies. Yesterday, he begged me to take him to the barber to freshen up his 'do which was an experience.  His dad handles the haircuts and the last time I took him for one he was an infant.

This morning as I was desperately hitting snooze, he came into my room fully dressed, book bag on and asked me to drive him over to school!

I think his day was a success.  To his great disappointment, his best friend Ethan is not in his class, but he likes several other kids that are.  He is excited that they are starting to do more flex grouping, which means he will get to spend time with some of other third grade teachers.  He is also already psyched up for the PSSA's (state tests which aren't even until spring).  I have talked a lot about opting him out of them but he came home begging me to allow him to take them.   I look at the pictures above and think about when he was a tiny kindergartner, and I really don't know where my baby has gone!  

My first day of school with kids was pretty good.  I am tired from being on my feet all day, but not as wiped out as I thought I would be.  

Third Thursday Threads

It's time to get ready for school to start again.  That means getting my new classroom in order and actually getting dressed in something other than yoga pants.  As you can see from the background, I still have a long way to go to get the new room in order.   Bri was having a link up for geometric prints so I thought this dress would be perfect for the theme.

It first made it's appearance at brother's rehearsal dinner in my new favorite family photo of the three of us.
 

It's not a maternity dress but it works really well as one.  I expect to get a few more months worth of wear out of it.

Isaac was getting jealous and wanted in on the classroom self timer pics.  Of course, his new WWE championship belt had to make an appearance too.

 

 

 Happy Thursday everyone!

I am still alive

I am still alive, just seems like there has been too much going on to stay on top of the blog.  I will do a pregnancy update tomorrow.  In the meantime, here is what is going down in the Stephenson-Horne household. 

Isaac really enjoyed his week at Scout Camp.  Tom had told Isaac about shooting BB guns and I guess he asked about it the very first day at camp.  He also seemed to enjoy swimming and archery.  I have been assigned to be a new Den Leader and thus, was obligated to go up to Scout Camp for a day.  I was pretty much terrified and forced Ryan to come along.  Those scout moms in hiking boots and frame packs intimidate the heck out of me, and I wasn't facing them alone.  It didn't exactly get closer to my comfort zone when we arrive because it turned out we were in charge of knots and... we don't know how to tie any knots...

Our first session was kind of rough, but we had an hour off after the next group and we coerced a den chief into helping us practice them over and over and over.  The second session went much better, although I never really got the hang of bowline knot.  

We had a very low key fourth of July.  Isaac had been spending a few days with my mother, so I drove out to meet them.  I mostly played with him for the morning (and worked on IEPs) and we watched an old school movie I remembered from my childhood 3 Ninjas.  Isaac was a fan.  His dad asked to change up his visitation schedule and he took him Thursday night.

This left Ryan and I to head into a neighboring town to see some fireworks.  It wasn't as fancy as Philly fireworks, but it was nice none the less.

When we got Isaac back, we decided to head up to Six Flags for the rest of the day.  It was unbearably hot (like 100 degrees) and the car even started to overheat on the way there, but we still had a lot of fun nonetheless.  Ryan was great to pick me up free cups of ice water at every concession stand we passed which helped a lot.

Jason Derulo was having a free concert there so we found a shady spot to enjoy it.  Isaac is very into dancing and choreography, so I think he enjoyed the show for that aspect.  Afterwards, there was enough time for Isaac and Ryan to hit up a few rides.  Ryan even hit up the rides that he normally avoids (like the spinning one below) so that Isaac didn't have to ride them alone, since I am out for the count on the everything except the carousel.

I randomly won a 50 dollar Sephora gift card from a blog giveaway and I went to spend my money the other day.  It has been a while since I treated myself to something totally self indulgent like make-up, so it was too hard to decide.  Among other things, I finally got a Tarte Amazonian clay blush (on my wishlist forever).  I got it in the color Exposed.  It is really nice!

The only other big thing is that Ryan and I booked our honeymoon cruise and are heading out July 18.  We leave from Miami and make two stops: Key West and Cozumel.  Then, when we return, Ryan and I will be spending an extra day in Miami before we fly home.  We are SO EXCITED. We keep watching youtube movies that other people have shot on our cruise, researching our ports, possible excursions and restaurants.  I am really looking forward to a few days away to travel and relax.  The countdown is on!

Fishing in Orlando

We recently went on a trip to Orlando.  We did Sea World, Aquatica (a big waterpark) and downtown Disney but Isaac said his favorite part was fishing with his Uncle Drew.  These are pictures I swiped from my sister. 

 

The resort has a beautiful lake stocked with fish.

 

Not a fan of the worms.

 

 

 

Success!!!