Recovering from the weekend

Yes, that's right; I need time to recover from our weekend. Today I feel like I've been hit by a mac truck.

We have been very busy, which is obvious by the lack of posts lately.

Friday was Allison's recital; it was great. She looked beautiful and did a great job! She even remembered to smile for most of the routine.

Her hair looked even better on Friday; since I learned how to use the spiral curling iron (borrowed from a co-worker, thanks Kristie) properly. It still took about 45 minutes, but it stayed for the whole night. It even stayed pretty curly all day Saturday and even into Sunday morning until I insisted we wash it!

45 minutes and two curling irons!

Close up of the make-up

I'm in such trouble when she gets older!

After the performance, with her roses.

Allison and her tap instructor, Ms. Cloe

Of course, the recital started late and Allison begged me to stay for the finale, even though she was in the 4th act of the first half. Needless to say it was a very long night; we didn't get out of there until 10:35pm. Mason was a complete angel during the recital; he slept through about half of it and was very quiet and content; thank goodness. Preston got a little bored, but enjoyed the hip-hop dances, especially the few that had boy dancers.

Saturday morning everyone slept in. We didn't get up until after 9am, yay! But, we got up, ate breakfast and were out the door. We went to a huge 50 family garage sale. We were out there about 3 hours. Of course, David and I didn't find anything, we weren't really looking for anything in particular, but you never know. There was tons of baby stuff and kids stuff, but we didn't need anything. The kids got some junk stuff, I think I spent about $17.60 or so.

After we were done there, we stopped by Jeff & Jill's (they were at the garage sale with us) for a few minutes, mainly so I could feed Mason. Then we went to Subway for lunch. We headed to a few more garage sales after that and went for a nice drive. Then, we headed up to rest for about an hour or so before we got ready to go to the Toledo Mudhens baseball game. David's union hall sells tickets to it's members for $2 a piece for one game every June. We got there before the game started and ate some pizza; I don't know why we decided on pizza instead of a baseball-game-regular hotdog, but whatever. Allison and Preston wanted to eat the entire game. They kept asking for pizza, popcorn, pretzels, nachos, cotton candy; you name it, they wanted it. I didn't give in for all of it, but we did not starve. Ha!

Mason, of course, slept through the first half of the game, but he was his normal angel-like self.

It was another long night on Saturday. The game seemed to go pretty quickly; we were originally only planning on staying an hour or so, but Mason was so good and the kids were enjoying themselves, we just ended up staying for the entire game. And, the kids even talked us into staying for the fireworks...which Mason loved. We didn't get home until almost 11 pm again.

Sunday, I was starting to feel the exhaustion set in; I think the walking and the heat on Saturday was catching up to me. But, we still accomplished our main goal for the weekend. We moved Preston's bed into Allison's room, temporarily. This left Preston's room open for the crib. Yes, Mason has been moved not only into his crib, but out of our room and across the hall! Once he starts sleeping through the night, which should hopefully be soon, we will move Preston back into his room and it will officially become "the boys room".

Mason loved his new bed!

I forgot how much I loved this crib until I saw it all put together again; it's been a long time.

Mason was so happy to have a bigger, more comfortable space; he took a nap in it about 20 minutes after we put it all together.

I had a hard time sleeping without Mason next to me on Sunday night; I swear I kept hearing him crying, and I'd run in there and he was sleeping soundly. I miss having him right next to me, but he slept very well the first night. He went to bed around 9 pm and didn't wake up until 3:30 to eat. He was just too big for his bassinet anymore. He'd try to roll over and get stuck or hit the side and get mad. Now, when he rolls over, he has plenty of room, and with a brand-new mattress, he's so much more comfortable.

I don't think I mentioned this previously, but I meant to. Years ago, when I was pregnant for Allison, we went to USA Baby to pick out our baby furniture. I loved the selections they had and loved the sturdiness of their furniture. I spent a lot of money on our nursery furniture, because, after all, it was going to be the furniture I used for all my babies. I spent a lot of money on the mattress; bought the best one that USA Baby offered. It had a lifetime warranty and was one in which I could bring back and exchange for a brand new one when I had another baby. Well, since Preston came shortly after Allison, there was no way I was ready to put my 18 month old in a big-girl bed. So, we went back to USA Baby and bought an entire new bedroom outfit for another nursery. This time, the furniture was even more expensive; very similar to Allison's, but a different brand. Well, so much for exchanging my old mattress for a new one, since Allison was still using hers. So, I bought the exact same mattress for Preston. Well, one by one the kids grew out of their cribs into big kid beds. The mattresses got wrapped in plastic and stored in the attic. Jeff and Jill didn't have a crib mattress yet, and since they were both laid off, were hoping to be able to buy one of their own. In the meantime, I offered to let them use one of mine, since I had two and obviously only needed one. Well, it dawned on me, I could exchange them for brand new mattresses. The USA Baby in our city went out of business, but I called one in Taylor, Michigan, about 45 minutes away to confirm they would exchange them for me. They told me as long as the sticker was still on the mattress showing it was a USA Baby brand, that they would in fact, give me a brand new one, or two! So, one Saturday in May, we all drove up to Taylor, Jeff and Jill included. We walked in with the old mattresses and walked out with brand new ones. I can't believe that they offer this service, but would absolutely recommend this to anyone who is looking for a baby mattress. Jeff and Jill are borrowing a mattress, but have the benefit of having a brand new one. And, should I ever need it back for another kid; can take it back to the store and, again, exchange it for a brand new one. This just amazes me. I am so happy that I spent all that money back when I had it; Mason is enjoying a brand new mattress at no expense to mommy and daddy. And, I love the fact that he gets to use my favorite crib, Allison's old one with Preston's old bedding, which both still look new.

Anyhow, that was a long story, but just wanted to throw in my recommendation for USA Baby.

So, back to our weekend. Allison and Preston are actually enjoying sharing a room. Preston begged me to take a nap on Sunday...he hasn't taken a nap in 3 years!. They've been watching t.v. in there every night before bed. I do hope they realize it's only temporary.

Sunday, when I went on my weekly grocery-shopping trip, I decided to buy some baby food for Mason. He's definitely having a growth spurt this week because he's eating every 2 to 2 1/2 hours again. And, is getting frustrated when trying to eat, like he's not getting enough. So, I decided, since he'll be 4 months old this week, it was time to introduce some baby food to him. He's had a few bites of bananas last week and was fine with a quick taste. I know that I am supposed to introduce one food at a time and give him the same food for 2-3 days in a row to make sure he doesn't have any allergies.

Well, when I got home from grocery store, David said Mason fussed almost the entire hour I was gone; and I'd fed him right before I left. So, while we were cooking dinner, David found the food I bought Mason and decided to give him a few bites to try. Well, let's just say that Mason ate the entire jar of sweet potatoes in about 10 minutes. He screamed between bites while David was trying to get more food on the spoon. He really enjoyed them. He also nursed shortly afterwards and then was out for about 6 hours. So, maybe it was a combination of a full belly and his new bed that made him sleep so well Sunday night. He had pears on Monday night and sweet carrots tonight. Needless to say, I have to go back to Kroger this week to get more because I only have one jar of baby food left, since I only bought 4 jars that were supposed to last at least a week. ha!

I finished feeding him dinner; he was so happy. (Oh, and you'll notice he's sitting in his Bumbo seat that I bought from Ebay; which he also loves!

I think this face says it all!

Monday night I was just exhausted from our weekend and David worked in the evening, so I didn't have much time to myself to finish this post that I started Monday morning. Oh, and our fridge was acting up. It's only 7 years old and has already been repaired twice. So, I had to call service on it again. It's out of warranty now, of course, but it wasn't anything major. Apparently, there was too much dust in the back of it; the motor wasn't able to keep up to keep it cool. So, the guy took off the back (which I did not know I was supposed to do) and cleaned it up. It's now working much better and making ice again, yay! And, since I forgot to leave the checkbook and we didn't have any credit cards that we could put the $140 on for the cleaning, David asked the repair guy if he could bill us. He said no, and told David that he was deleting our name from the schedule "I was never here today. Have a good day" he told David. Wow..there are still caring, compassionate people in this world. Thank God for his goodness today; I wasn't sure where that money was going to come from.

So, now that I've bored you to DEATH and taken up most of your evening rambling, you are caught up. We have another busy weekend ahead of us; two graduation parties and a Father's Day cookout at my sister-in-laws. I'll try to keep up with my blogging this week; but can't make any promises. I guess I should have split this one up so I had something to talk about all week.

Hopefully, I can make some progress on my entry closet and basement, especially since half the month is over and I haven't started on either project.

Have a great night.

Until next time,