Scrapbook page

It was a sad day when my laptop died. It may at some point be revivied with a new hard drive, but not real soon. Fortunately, I had been pretty careful about backing up my scrapbook pages, so I didn't lose any. But I did lose a lot of scrapbooking "materials". I've rebuilt my supply on our desktop and did some scrapbooking for a little while last night. I enjoyed doing this two-page spread about my visit with my cousin and our children playing together...

Moving toward success... one little star at a time

As you read on my last post, I did not see any immediate success in my "Roman stayed in bed" chart (and that's putting it nicely as I know from all of you who let me know you are laughing at me). And sure enough, that night, we had the same old struggles. But within a couple of days he stayed in bed and fell asleep for nap (quite by accident I'm sure, he was especially tired that day). Accident or not, we had a big celebration that evening. We put a star on the chart and all of us cheered and sang and tickled and high-fived him. The next day was not successful, but then yesterday we had another celebration and received another star. Tonight he earned another star that he will receive tomorrow morning, bringing us to a grand total of three stars this week. All hard-earned and much-valued stars... hopefully each one encourages him to keep it up!

Duped by my two-year-old

I've found myself trying to explain life with Roman a few times lately. Maybe I'm looking for understanding? Encouragement? Reassurance that we will survive? He's 2 1/2 now and absolutely precious. He's hilarious and loving, eager to help and just adorable. He's also the epitome of two. He's a non-stop ball of insane energy. He's emotionally intense - very excited and happy and also furious depending on the moment. He is into everything and sometimes scares us with his curiosity and daring nature. He's also big for his age, making him harder to hold or carry and also making people assume his behavior should be appropriate to an older child. (Today someone asked me if he was three or four.) He also doesn't sleep much. I mean, we put him to bed and make him stay there, but he's awake, fussing, playing, getting up... on and on... sometimes until three hours after bed-time!

There was an evening last night when we had gotten them both into bed and I cried (just a little) out of sheer exhaustion and feeling so overwhelmed by the constant battle that is mothering Roman. Jeff comforted me, but also laughed a little bit, amused by it all. Two days later Jeff spent 30 minutes getting Roman dressed and ready to go somewhere in the morning, then promptly lay down on the bed and told me "Roman is exhausting!"

On to my story...

In an effort to get him to stay in bed and hopefully fall asleep faster at night, I made a "Roman stayed in bed" sign and showed him how he would get to put stickers on it if he stayed in bed. I talked about how we would be so excited... Then we decided to practice. (Trey was at VBS during this - it was just me and Moe. Jeff came home for something while it was going on, you'll see where he fits in the story...) We put one of the stuffed animals in bed, left the room, waited, then went back in and said "good morning" and told the animal how good it did staying in bed, etc., etc. I tried to get Roman to do it. He didn't buy it. So I said I would do it. He tucked me in, left the room, then came back and celebrated with me my staying in bed. I tried again to get him to do it. No go. He told me he wanted me to do it again, so I lay down, got tucked in and Roman went out. I waited for him to come back. And waited. And waited. I began to wonder what was going on. But, if I were to get up or call to him, I wouldn't be staying quietly in bed as I was supposed to. I waited longer. Then I heard Jeff come in and heard Roman's protests that are typical of him getting caught red-handed and not wanting to be punished. That's when I got up. I headed downstairs to see what was going on. Roman had tucked me in, then gone downstairs and gotten into my purse (strictly forbidden!), found my gum and was shoving it in his mouth (even more strictly forbidden!). That's when Jeff had walked in. I couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry, so I did a little of both. And do you know what Roman said to me? "Mommy, you didn't stay in bed!"

Camping

Last week was wonderful. We had a good time relaxing and spending time together while the boys were gone, then had a blast when we joined them. We rode bikes and went on the lake in a row boat. We saw an amazing fireworks show and enjoyed our own campfire and sparklers every night. We climbed the amazing "Thunder Rocks", saw tons of wildlife and just loved every minute of it. What a great week.

Here are some pics I love:

The boys wore Grandpa out!


Jeff and his cousin reached the top of a difficult rock at Thunder Rocks. (Some cousins and Aunt Diane came for a couple hours one night.)


They said I couldn't do it, so of course I had to prove them wrong (I succeeded). (This is the other side of the same rock - the same place they climbed up.)



This is me and Jeff and the boys in the row boat, with a great view of the area around the lake and "Red House", which contains the welcome center, gift shop, museum and a restaurant.



Here are Grandma and Grandpa enjoying their turns on the bikes they rented and we shared.


My wonderful Nala, tirelessly doing two of her favorite things: swimming and fetching.



This is Stone Tower, it was our last stop before leaving Allegheny. It was really cool!


And how could I be out in this beautiful park and not get at least a few flower pictures? :) I was thrilled to find Forget-Me-Nots, one of my favorite flowers.

Ahh... Vacation

A mom doens't really get very many vacations. Family vacations still include a lot of work. So what I have now... two plus days of my kids being out of town, safe and happy with grandparents... that's what I consider a real vacation! Don't get me wrong, I love family style vacations too, but, moms out there, you have to admit that you come home at least as tired as when you left!

So today I got up and went running (didn't have to worry about if Jeff was available to be home with the boys), did some quick cleaning that needed doing (no interruptions means it was pretty fast), took a peaceful shower, scrapbooked a whole page without interruption or guilt and just spent an hour outside enjoying the sun, my garden and my silly dogs who play like little puppies.

So nice...