Happy Birthday, Daddy!

This post is ten days overdue...but Happy Birthday, Chris!  

Chris' birthday was a big deal for Ava.  She's big into rituals and celebrations and she takes them very seriously.  She dressed in her best "birthday princess outfit" which she picked out on her own.  She helped with making his birthday cake.  About an hour before the celebrations began she decided that she needed to wrap a present for Chris so she scoured the house and found the perfect present - a December 2010 issue of the US Weekly magazine.  Boy was Chris surprised!  It was a fun day and it was made super special by Ava :-)

Workin' on Daddy's cake...

 The beautiful birthday outfit...

Delivering the birthday cake...

Look at how proud she is!

Daddy posing with his totally awesome birthday gifts...

SNOW DAY

D-O-N-E

It's official. Chris is d-o-n-e with his MBA. Three years in the making and it's done.  I am so so so relieved.  I am also so so so proud of us.  I'm thrilled that we survived this and with flying colors I might add (3.8 GPA, baby!).  Sure, it was tough.  Sure, we struggled emotionally, physically and mentally.  Sure, it was almost unbearably stressful.  Sure, it tested our relationship and our relationship to those around us.  But it is done and we survived.  We're stronger and smarter and more wrinkled.  Really, I cannot express well enough just how relieved I am.  I've dreamt about this blog post for a long time and the moment is finally here and I'm just rambling because I'm giddy and relieved.  Not only was Chris focused on his degree these past three years but we also decided to have another baby (Lincoln) and I got laid off from my job.  We kept our chins up (most of the time anyway) and made the best of a seemingly rotten situation.  We worked as a team.  We sacrificed A LOT over the past few years.  I'm so glad it's over.  I'm still not certain I understand how Chris stayed focused.  I'm also baffled by how well he functioned with such limited sleep and so much stress.  He's truly an inspiration to me!  He somehow managed to get a lot out of school while still being an attentive husband and father.  Linc is too little to understand the impact all of this has made on our family but Ava gets it.  Ava is thrilled to have so much time with Daddy!  Have I mentioned how relieved I am?  Have I mentioned how proud I am?  *Sigh*  While we do deserve a pat on our backs I should also thank YOU because we have an awesome support network.  Without the love, support and encouragement from our friends and family I'm not sure we would have made it through in one piece.  Sounds dramatic, I know.  But it is.  It is dramatic.  It was a little traumatic too.  I needed those "vent" sessions on the phone with my brothers, those uplifting visits from my sister-in-law and those many dinners and adult conversations with my parents in order to survive in one piece...without professional intervention or medication.  We're so thankful it hurts.  I'm relieved too.  And proud.

Here's how we celebrated...  

THANK YOU.  

TWO

This is what two looks like on Lincoln...

I cannot believe my baby is already two years old!  I have so many "It feels like yesterday..." memories.  

He's such a cool dude.  He's 100% two-year-old.  He lives in the moment which is both exciting and frustrating.  For instance, he loves school but he does not like to be dropped off or picked up.  Go figure.    When I pick him up he yells, "No!  I play!"  It's frustrating to get him out of the house or to change locations in general.  At home he doesn't want to leave his toys to get into the car so he usually has a mini-fit every time we leave the house.  Then he doesn't like to leave a store when we're done shopping so that also takes some coaxing.  We do a lot of explaining and talking and that's also frustrating because it's so time consuming.  I know it is a phase and I know it will pass soon enough.  I've at least learned that much about parenting so far ;-)  

Lincoln has a selective attention span.  He'll sit for as long as you let him when it comes to painting, coloring or gluing but he can barely make it through the first three pages of a book.  There are exceptions though as he has a couple favorite books that he'll let you read over and over again.  He's still obsessed with "Cars" and all things Mac, Mater and Lightning.  He entertains himself very well.

He also has selective listening skills.  Lincoln listens really well 90% of the time but the other 10% of the time is REALLY bad.  He usually saves those moments for public outings.  He has almost reduced me to tears on several occasions while out shopping.  I'm more of a fan of online shopping now than ever before!    

Lincoln looks up to his sister and they usually play really well together.  Every now and then I catch some sweet moments between them that melt my heart.  The other day I caught them both sitting on Ava's bed sharing a bowl of popcorn and they were just chit chatting.  I've also caught them cuddled up together sharing a book.  He'll sit for a book with Ava presumably because he loves the attention from her.  They also like to play, "Night Night" where Lincoln pretends to be the baby and Ava is the Mommy putting him down for a nap.  He willingly lays down and she covers him with a blanket and rubs his back.  They play "Cafe" too...

The two-year doctor check-up went well except for the part that actually included the doctor.  Lincoln screamed through his painless physical.  His pediatrician thinks that he must have remembered his previous visit that included a strep and flu test :-(  Anyway, he's a healthy two-year-old!  He weighs 29 lbs 8 oz (68%) and he's 35.5" tall (79%).

  

Cutie Pies

School with Lincoln

I was helper parent in Linc's classroom this week. I didn't bring my camera because I find it much more difficult and stressful to take pictures in his classroom among all the two-year-olds. First of all, there isn't a good place to put the camera when I'm not using it because those little munchkins will sniff it out and go to great lengths to get their chubby little fingers on it. Also, you can't divert your attention away from the stinkers for two seconds or else someone will take someone else's toy and there will be screaming and you won't have a clue what happened and therefore no idea how to make the screaming stop. Stressful. I did, however, risk all of the above and I used my cell phone camera. My cell phone is always with me (Dad's rule). Disclaimer: I don't always answer it so don't use it against me, mkay?

Check out all the cuteness...

It's a big day for the little guy. He naps well after a school day!

I have to admit that I do enjoy being around all those little people. They're so much fun...poopy diapers and screaming aside.

Birthday Festivities

The little man is officially two years old! Here's how he celebrated...

We went to a model train show at the local library. Here's a picture of the kids on their way inside. We asked them to smile and this is what we got. As Ava would say, "You get what you get and you don't get upset!"

Linc was sooooo excited to go see some trains.

Some model train pictures...

After the trains we came home for a nap and Linc took some birthday phone calls...

After nap time we went to Honey & Papa's house for a delicious dinner and birthday cake. Honey made a Lightning McQueen cake for Lincoln and it was GORGEOUS...

It was pretty tasty, too!

Then Lincoln opened presents (with some help from his sister)...

See Jeff & Rachel? I told he he LOVED his Mater shirt :-)

Overall, it was a good day!

Parent Helper

I must confess...I was helper parent in Ava's classroom last week and I made a conscious effort to try not to take any pictures.  I kind of just didn't want it on my mind.  I wanted to be 100% present in the moment.  Well, I failed miserably.  Are you surprised?  I guess if I really wanted to succeed then I wouldn't have brought the camera with me. 

Who doesn't love a game of freeze tag?!

It was Ava's share day again and she brought in a Shutterfly book that Chris and I made for her a while ago.  It covers her 2nd year of life in pictures.  The other kids in her class laughed at her naked butt pictures.  I guess they've reached that age.  You can see her teacher covering Ava's bottom in this picture.

Snuggling with her puppy after school...