musings of Mother Hood

Weekend!

I have a coworker who recently shared with me her theory on weekends. She proposes all weekends be three days long: one day for play, one day for work, and one day for rest. If you only have two days you can really only do two of those things appropriately. I think it's brilliant, and I'm prepared to sign any and all 3-Day Weekend petitions that come my way.

In the meantime, we spent our most recent two day weekend doing something more along these lines:

You could say we don't exactly have the hang of the whole play/work/rest theory...

Nevertheless, we had a great weekend.

Saturday

First, some "work". I hadn't realized until now that I never made this blog-official, but I decided to go for broke and run a full marathon this spring! Yes, I've had my final dose of the running Kool-Aid and I've just started week 5 of a 16 week marathon training program that will (hopefully!) end with the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon on April 29th.

This race is part of the reason I've stopped scheduling so many races lately, but I've got a few half marathons between now and OKC that will be good training races. So you haven't escaped the running blogs altogether!

Week 5 was actually a cut-back week so we did 9 miles Saturday morning. "We" is Jennifer and me. Jennifer has mercifully agreed to do my long training runs with me and it's been fabulous having someone like her along for those long, cold Saturday mornings. Say a little prayer for us this coming Saturday morning -- we've got 14 on the schedule - a new high for me!

Anyway, enough talk about running. That was really the only thing I did this weekend that semi-qualifies as "work" and I didn't really take the nap I intended to take on Saturday so "rest" gets a small piece of the pie, too. The rest of Saturday was spent reading library books and playing firemen -- which, as I'm sure you can imagine, is taken VERY seriously in this house. After one too many surprisingly detailed books about firemen, this is how he insists on leaving his pants and boots every night:

You know, "in case there's a fire".

The yellow boots belong to his semi-imaginary friend, Penny. She's one of the characters in his favorite show, Fireman Sam, and she makes regular appearances when he's "tendin'" to be a firefighter at home.

Sunday

Not gonna lie. Sunday was all "play".

First, we attended the Second Anniversary Celebration Service for our church, The Harbor Church of NWA. We are a small church with a big heart, and the 2nd Anniversary was a great time to get together and celebrate all we've seen and done in the last two years as a group.

Here's a shot of everyone at the service on Sunday:

After the service, Colt found every firehat in the toy box and laid them out.

As families were milling around talking afterward the kids were playing, and anyone that got within a few feet of "the firehouse" was recruited and given a firehat. Including us!

Happy Anniversary, Harbor!

Then home for a bit of "rest" before more "play". MUCH more "play".

In case you hadn't heard, there was a football game on Sunday. No big thing, really -- mostly an excuse for us to get a babysitter and take part in the social phenomenon known as Super Bowl Sunday. Becky came over as Colt was waking up from his nap and they headed out to the library.

Because this kid can never get enough of the library! Library! Library! And more library! I even got this picture by text later that afternoon -- they did the double whammy and went to the bookstore, too.

Meanwhile, we were enjoying some 100% adult interaction as we Super Bowl Party-hopped our way through the evening.

Super Bowl Party #1: Jennifer's House.

Same Jennifer. Running buddy Jennifer. And Keith and Don. This group of people just makes me so happy. Pre-Colt, the six of us used to hang out nearly every weekend. Before this past Sunday, I can't even remember the last time we were all together. It should probably be measured in "years". Ugh. Anyway! We had a ball. Jennifer and her husband Luke just built a beautiful new house and we had a great time catching up.

Look Mom, we showered! Jennifer and I usually see each other early Saturday mornings in sweaty running clothes. We clean up nice, right?

I think I watched about four minutes of football and two commercials. Oh, and I ate two of these:

Football-shaped cake pops. Cute AND delicious!

Super Bowl Party #2: On the Mark.

This was a bit of an unplanned stop on the way from Party #1 -- we got excited...

And we stopped in at On the Mark, a sports bar in Fayetteville with WAY too many TVs. It was halftime at this point, so we tried to watch what we could of Madonna's show -- but THIS was very distracting:

Photo credit goes to Jeff - he live-tweeted most of our evening.  And if you look closely you can see Madonna on the TV over the flip cup craziness.

Super Bowl Party #3: Josh and Courtney's House

This is where it got REALLY crazy. We joined Josh and Courtney (and their almost one year old baby, Carter) and Cruz and Stacy (whose almost one year old baby, Brayden, was already sleeping in the other room) and we finished our evening talking babies and sleeping and all kinds of other craaaaaaazy things with our friends-with-babies.

Perfect ending to a fun night. Not sure how I managed to not take a photo of our group, but this one Jeff tweeted of the tops of our heads over the comfy couch and just beyond the yummy football food will have to do.

Super Bowl Parties - Success! We enjoyed our evening, got a great report from Becky when we got home, and were in bed by 10 o'clock. Can't beat it.

I'd say the balance of work/play/rest in our weekend was just about right, yes?

By the book

Whether it's because I'm embarrassed to admit it or because I simply can't remember, I can't tell you how long it's been since last I had a valid library card. I assume my University of Arkansas student ID doesn't count so that means it was at least pre-2000, and now I've distracted myself with that little reminder that I graduated from high school almost TWELVE years ago. Anyway. It's been a while.

But this weekend, I got back on the wagon. And I brought Colt with me. His babysitter has taken him to the Fayetteville Public Library a few times, but I never had. But before you sit in judgement of any perceived reading famine you should be reminded our house is FULL of books and there is constant reading. Ninny (Jeff's mom) is a retired school teacher and librarian, Colt's cousin Courtney works in children's book publishing, and MawMaw and PawPaw (my parents) are firm believers that -- somewhere out there -- there is indeed a book for everything -- and they probably own it... Over the years Courtney has made it her personal mission to ensure Colt has the most impressive and beautiful library of books you have ever seen, and whether it's Ninny, MawMaw, or right here at home -- there is never a shortage of laps built for sharing a book or two.

So I took Colt to the library Sunday afternoon and we made it official. Baby's First Library Card!

That afternoon, he almost couldn't wait to get in bed for his nap because he knew when he woke up it was Library Time! SO excited. And the library didn't disappoint.

I know I'm probably late to the party and the rest of Fayetteville has been enjoying this place for years and years, but seriously - our library is gorgeous. I'm so sad the new building has been open since 2004 and I never set foot in it until this week. I didn't want to leave - we stayed until they closed.

The light just spilled in the big, beautiful windows and the kids' section was so clean and colorful and inviting. I instantly loved it, and Colt felt right at home, moving from puzzle to puzzle and picking out books.

His only real complaint was that the library sorts children's books by author, not topic, so after searching for a few exasperating minutes, he wandered up to the desk and politely asked the attendant, "Where are the fire books?" She was so sweet and helped him find a few.

By the time we left we had pretty well cleaned the place out of any children's books with "fire" in the title. Firefighters, fire trucks, fire drills, fire dogs.

Self check-out at the library! He did it all himself, book by book. He would wait for the big green check mark telling him the computer had read the sticker on that book, then he'd stack it up and grab the next one.

Despite my explaining it 17 different ways, the whole concept of the library is a bit lost on him I'm afraid. He wants to go again tomorrow and "buy" more books. It might take us a few rounds of borrowing and returning to truly get the hang of it, but there's no doubt I have a book fan on my hands.

The family that Skee-Balls together

1. We had A LOT of fun Wednesday night at Fun City.

2. If you wait until the evening is over and the boys are exhausted, you will be lucky to get a halfhearted yet still (obviously) adorable photo of these cuties.

(Colt and Carter. Carter's parents are longtime friends of ours -- Josh and Courtney.)

3. Colt still poses no real threat to the golf community.

 

(CLICK HERE if you don't see a video.)

 

My Boy

Buddy,

Today isn't your birthday or the first day of school or Mother's Day or any other traditionally significant day in our lives. It's just a Monday. And you're on my mind.

You're so seamlessly part of our lives now I feel like I sometimes take for granted what an incredible little person you are. Lately, every time I describe you as "a three year old" your Daddy is quick to remind me that you're "almost four". And, sure, in some ways I'm sad that you're growing up so quickly -- looking and acting almost nothing like a baby anymore. But mostly, I am in love with you getting older and spunkier - and more and more YOU.

I have a terrible memory. But I am desperate to remember everything about you at this very minute of your life. I just want to write down every single word you say and take a picture of every expression on your dirty little face. I never want to forget the sound of your laugh when Daddy sings the wrong words or the shape of your mouth when you say the word "belly". I never want to forget your uncanny ability to spot a fireman-themed book from ANYWHERE in the bookstore or the way you chronically get flamingos confused with pelicans.

Some things about you will change or fade as you grow up. Who knows? You could someday drop that southern accent that currently rivals anything coming out of your Daddy's mouth, and you'll eventually outgrow your fire boots.  It's unlikely you'll still be volunteering to "help" me in the kitchen ten years from now, and I worry that your sleepy little head won't always fit so perfectly onto my shoulder. But I pray you'll always have the boundless imagination and genuine heart that are such a big part of your little three year old self. And someday when you are far too cool and grown-up to be snuggling with me at bedtime, I promise not to tell anyone if you ever just need a hug from your Mama.

You are Mommy's baby and Daddy's boy, and one of my two favorite people in this whole crazy world.

I love you more today than yesterday.
Mama