Feeling grateful

So I was talking to someone last week about the woes of being a working mother...you know, seeing your child for only a few hours a day, feeling trapped in your situation because of money, having little time to do the things you want to do...(and don't worry, if you're reading this and think I'm talking about you, I'm probably not because the person I was talking to doesn't read my blog) and I got off the phone feeling really grateful.

I know that being a working mom is super hard.  I'm "on" from 5am until 8pm with only about 60 minutes of "me time" before I go to bed.  I feel broke most of the time.  The hours between getting home from work and putting Trey to bed are enough to make me go straight to the bottle due to the tantrums, whining, and clinginess.  But after having this conversation, I realized how lucky I am.  

I actually don't mind going to my job.  In fact, on Sunday nights I'm sort of looking forward to going to work the next morning.  I have really great friendships that I work on cultivating and get a lot from.  (Is that a dangling preposition?  I hate those.)  Just this weekend I was able to see SEVEN friends and that was in FIVE different social engagements.  Between email, texting, and Facebook, I am in pretty constant contact with a lot of my friends, and I think that is what makes me feel so fulfilled.  I have a happy home. My child delights me on a daily basis, and my husband and I made it out to two date nights in the past week (granted those are the first two in a very long time, but we are focusing on the positives here, right?).  

When I was talking to this person and they said, "When I retire in 30 years, I'm going to look back and think 'What did I do with my life?'"  I thought to myself, "Wow, I don't feel that way at all.  I am really lucky."  

Trey has been a lot of fun the past few weeks.  We still get the foot stomping and crying when we don't meet his demands in 2 seconds or less, but we also get the giggles and the smiles.  The level of energy is high around the house, so you will see a lot of capital letters.   They are meant to capture Trey's LOVE of these things in his life.  

Trey LOVES playing in the car.  He can be passenger or driver; it doesn't really matter to him.  He loves having his seatbelt on, but I have to have mine on too.  He loves putting the keys in the ignition and is getting close to being able to turn them (makes his mama nervous).  He loves turning the windshield wipers on and off, and he LOVES playing with the cd player and having control over the music.  Playing in the car is our new post-daycare activity that could last hours if it was up to Trey.  

Trey LOVES his sidewalk chalk.  He loves using it in the driveway, loves sitting at his table drawing on paper, and LOVES walking around the deck writing all over the banister and posts.  

Trey LOVES going to the park.  He likes going on the swings, climbing the play structures, and most recently throwing barkdust.  He also has his new favorite word ("mine!") which he has been using at the playground getting close to pushing kids and making his mama slightly embarrassed.  

 Aiden (Dan and Kristina's son who we babysat on Saturday)

 and Trey at Woodlawn Park

 Trey on the big boy swing for the first time

 Having a ball at Washington Park

The last time we were there all he could do was swing.  

This time I was chasing him around everywhere. 

Sitting with Kai and Zander, Sarah's boys

Trey LOVES swimming.  We are taking swimming lessons right now at the Mt Scott pool (super warm which Mama loves) and he is pretty much giddy the whole time we are in the pool.   Last weekend Randy came with us, so I got to sit on the side and drink coffee and read my book.  Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.  I'm hoping to talk Randy into taking him by himself next week so I can go to the farmer's market, but don't tell Randy.  

Trey LOVES being outside.   I am starting to think about summer and activities Trey and I can do that don't involve wandering around the driveway and the yard.  Yesterday we were headed to Washington Park and driving through this really fancy neighborhood.  This basketball hoop was sitting on the edge of a driveway with a sign that said "FREE".  Seriously???  Randy and I were JUST talking about getting one of these for him.  Perfect timing!  We also just got him a water table off of Craigslist that he will LOVE (he has one at daycare, so I know he already loves it).  

Trey also LOVES running around the house naked.  I took some cute pictures, but I'm not too keen on putting naked pictures of my boy on the internet.  Randy is paranoid that Trey will pee every time he's naked (which Trey used to do), but I think Trey's getting used to the feel of being naked so the risk is diminishing.  

Next weekend we are taking Trey to Sesame Street Live (early birthday gift from my dad and Sandy) and I am so hopeful that Trey is in a good mood when we go because he is going to FREAK OUT.  I am loving this nice weather and the seeds in my garden have just started to sprout.  I really hope my carrots grow this time because I can't wait to pull one out and show it to Trey.   Good times, people.  Good times.

Spring time fun

Longer days, sunshine, and blossoming trees and flowers are signs that spring is here and summer is just around the corner.  Okay, maybe a really long corner, but it's getting closer!  Trey is currently obsessed with being outside and wants to be outside all of the time.  The moments we won't/don't take him outside are when we have started to see his tantrums come out.

Easter was a few weeks ago, and, amazingly enough, we had really great weather.  Trey got some sidewalk chalk, a bubble maker, and some magnets from the Easter Bunny, and he was as happy as a clam.  Later that night I was regretting not getting him any chocolate, but that was more for my own selfish desires.  

Trey on Easter morning with his basket.  Those with a discerning eye may see that it is quite similar to  last year.

My friend Ardis gave us these magnets a month or so ago.  I was saving them for a time when he needed some new toys, and I thought Easter was the perfect opportunity.  Trey loves his new magnets!

 Trey enjoying some rare April sunshine

 Trey also loves his new sidewalk chalk! 

On Easter we went to the Kopplins for Easter Brunch.  We had a great meal made by Sarah and Randy as well as some delicious mimosas.  Thanks to the sunshine we were able to play outside and even have an Easter egg hunt. 

Trey in disbelief that eggs just happen to be sitting in the dirt

My sweet boy 

For some reason Trey likes to blow on flowers.  I thought this might be because he has learned to blow on those white dandelions at daycare, but they say no.  Maybe blowing is reverse smelling?

Melts my heart every day 

More blowing 

Dad and Trey 

"An egg! An egg" 

Finding hidden eggs is just the coolest thing. 

Trey loves being in the driveway. 

Blowing bubbles with Dad 

Kicking back on a sunny day 

Doug and Carmen came by for a short visit on their way to the airport from a weekend in Walla Walla.  It was so great to have Easter dinner with them.  Trey had a lot of fun on the deck with Grandma and Grandpa too.  

This is my blanket from when I was a little girl.  I asked Carmen to put new batting in it for me. She was able to do that and put a new edge around it.  I love it!  The navy blue heart is velvet and was my favorite as a little girl because it was so soft against my face.

I feel like the past few weeks as a working mother have sort of kicked my ass.  I get up at 5am and the day doesn't really end until Trey goes to bed at 8pm.  It is so hard to get dinner prepared after we get home from daycare when Trey is so needy and whiny.  I've been a slacker on my meal planning and it makes getting dinner ready even more difficult.  I am usually ready to crash by 9pm which means little time for anything but parenting.  I thought it would get easier as Trey gets older, but right now I feel like it's just getting harder.

I found these at Target last week and felt like it was my dream come true.  Single servings of champagne for mimosas.

The rest of the pictures are some random shots from the last few weeks.  Our weekends are full and we have a lot of fun.  Despite being tired and overwhelmed at times, I am a lucky woman with a great family and good friends.

 Trey and Silas collaborating on some tunes.

Hanging out at the Spring Brewfest.  

I posted this on Facebook and said it was Trey's 45th brewfest.  

I was exaggerating because we take him to a lot of brewfests, 

but I had several people think I meant it.   

I wanted this to look like the Reservoir Dogs shot, but by the time I got my cell phone camera working it was too late.

Trey blowing on some more flowers 

Again, thanks to my slow cell phone camera I missed the shot where Tango and Trey were both lying on their backs on the grass.  It was pretty cute.

Saturday was Julie's birthday, and we went to Cooper Mountain Winery to celebrate.  Here I am with sweet Grady, 6 months old, at the winery.  Little did we know that Grady was on the way to getting a double ear infection and bad cold.  Poor boy...daycare is really getting the best of him.   We did have a really fun day wine tasting and having dinner at Julie and Tim's house with my dad and Sandy and some of Julie's friends.

We have a really fun weekend coming up.  I have book club tomorrow with my girlfriends, Saturday is swimming lessons, and on Saturday night Randy and I are going to see Storm Large at the symphony.  It is supposed to be a sunny weekend, so we are hoping to get some yardwork done and I want to get more put in my garden.  I am loving these longer days and warmer temperatures.  Yay for sunshine!

Jellyfish, puffins, and seals, oh my!

Today was one of those days to file away when I'm having a bad day...you know, the kind of day where everything is just fabulous and you want to remember it when things are really crappy?  And it was even just a pretty normal day but still felt really good.  I woke at 5am, exercised, got ready for work, took Trey to daycare, had a full day at the office with a lunch break with Mindy, had my first class at PSU, had a great giggle session and bedtime with my boy, and my husband cooked me dinner.  Does it get any better than that?  

I'm teaching again this spring at PSU and while I will likely complain about it all term long, I remembered tonight why I like teaching so much.  I love being able to teach the grad students about assessment, recent research, and good practice.  Tonight while sharing information with the students I had this moment of wanting to read and learn more about the topic so that I can be a better teacher.  Isn't that what teaching is all about?  It keeps me fresh in my field and more comfortable with the content.  This seems like a great cohort, and I am excited to work with them.  And every time that I complain about the work, I am going to remind myself that teaching this term will pay for our vacation to Black Butte this summer.  And maybe a trip to the Nordstrom sale...

The last half of our spring break was sort of rough.  Trey got the stomach flu on Thursday night and it was brutal.  He got sick nine times in seven hours, and it was heartbreaking to see him in pain and not be able to do anything about it.  I didn't get any sleep that night, and I was a walking zombie the next day.  Luckily, the puking was short-lived, but Trey was off kilter for the rest of the weekend.  The only positive out of the whole thing was that Randy and I didn't catch it.  THANK GOD.

On Thursday morning Trey got a haircut and looks so cute.  Tonight while we were playing on the bed I just couldn't get over how he looks like such a boy.  

Pre-haircut

Post-haircut

Post-tantrum in Barnes and Noble because the tag 

was on the Blue's Clues doll and I wouldn't take it off.

I was sitting in the backseat while he played in the front.

Good times.

Randy, Trey, and I went to Rockaway Beach for the weekend and stayed in Julie's in-laws' house.  It was nice to get out of town, but I wish Trey would have been feeling better and been in a better mood.  

Enjoying some beach time during the short stint without rain

On Saturday we went to the aquarium in Newport.  A couple came up to us as we were walking in and offered to take us in as their guests.  I love random acts of kindness!   I thought Trey would really love the fish, but he would barely let me put him down the whole time we were there.  The only time he wanted down was when we were out by the birds. 

Back at the house playing with blocks

Tonight Doug and Carmen, Randy's parents, are spending the night before they drive to Walla Walla in the morning.  Trey doesn't know they are coming, and he is going to FREAK OUT when he wakes in the morning and finds Bapa and Grandma in the front room.  I can't wait!