20 weeks!! Photos hopefully to come this weekend... OK, if I don't update today it'll be months before I do and I'll forget what has transpired since my last blog. Or shall I say forget MORE of what has transpired. Let's see. I probably wrote last week on Thursday so that brings us to Friday (as if anyone cares what I fill my days with... but let me tell you these will be SO handy when I scrapbook the year 2007 and I'm 80 years old and can't remember who I am) Friday- Packing day. That automatically means chaos and nothing going as expected. I got all my laundry done Thursday, got the house pretty well in order with getting things picked up and cleaned and the dishes done and like I said- laundry. It's a small miracle if I get more than 2 loads done on any given day. So Friday Tyler was in his usual psychotic "WE"RE GOING TO GRANDMA"S HOUSE" mode which allowed me to get... hm mm... NOTHING done. No matter how much planning I do there is always too much to take and I don't have it ready on time. My biggest problem was not knowing what I was going to wear to the reunion. All my clothes I've saved for years are still to small and my "new" clothes are too big. Nothing fits quite like it's supposed to and it was a LITTLE late to go shopping for new clothes! :) I had a nice break early afternoon when Stephanie came over to see the kids. Tyler took a good nap and thankfully Grace did well and I got a second much needed break when Jen called. (IT'S A BOY) I am so excited for her! We got a late start, of course, and then I didn't know we needed to hit the bank but we did. Finally we were off. My mom helped throw one of her best friend's a huge surprise party so we went to that. Tyler was very well behaved and both kids were a big hit. It was a fun night and Tyler went to bed late- we all did. Saturday we got up in the morning and Tyler played well while Grace napped to recover from Friday. My mom and I worked on things to take to the picnics we were each going to on Sunday and got to visit. Gary played with Grace in the living room for the most part and Tyler was back and forth. Grace decided it was time to thrill us all and roll over from her tummy to her back! Tyler was up EARLY for how late he went down which worked out because he napped from about 11-12:30 when we left for the soccer game. It broke my heart to wake him up because he was SOUND asleep. He's SO like his daddy! I walked into his room, got out his outfit, took away his blankets and animals and rolled him over on his back and he was still sound asleep. Oh I could use about 12 hours of that kind of sleep!! Even 8 would do! He loves sports and so once he got woken up the thought of seeing a band and a soccer game thrilled him. He was slightly less thrilled when he got there and realized that he was not going to get to play soccer. It was fun seeing the marching band and being ever so thankful that it's been 10 years since I've had to wear one of those uniforms!!!! HAHA!!! They played a couple songs I played "back in the day" which was neat. My mom asked me if some of the drill was the same. My memory is really not that good so I have no idea. We left after halftime to head back and get ready to go out for the 10 year reunion dinner at Dave and Busters. Gary and I actually FOR ONCE left early and got there early. Gary spent the night trying to get his money's worth in food and watching both Ohio State and the Indians games on all the TV's around. I know he's not into parties and crowds so I should have expected this knowing full well that D&B has a zillion TV's around. I had a wonderful time getting to catch up with everyone who was there. It was so neat to get to meet spouses of people that I pretty much grew up with and realize that many of us have been with our spouses longer than we were in school together- depending on when we all started attending ODCS. I was shocked when suddenly it was after 10! I have no idea what time we left but I did get to at least say hi to everyone even though I didn't get to really talk to everyone as much as I'd have liked. I loved hearing what kinds of careers everyone was in and was thrilled to know that the career of being a stay-at-home-mom was not one I was alone in! I was so tired when we got back and thankfully my mom and both kids were sleeping. :) I fed Grace, filled my mom in on who was there, and went to bed. Sunday mom left early to go set up for the picnic she was involved with and we got the car packed and organized (that is half the battle right there- organized.) and went off to meet my grandma, aunts, cousin and dad for breakfast. Boy was that good. I'm not much of a breakfast person but it was SO nice to get to see family and eat! Tyler polished off his entire breakfast (5-6 mini pancakes) and half of one of my aunt Kim's pancakes too! We got some pictures of me and Grace with everyone and forgot to get some of Tyler. duh. Usually we have pix of the kids and none of me so I got in a few. We left there and went to see my mom for about an hour before heading over to Avon Lake for the reunion family picnic. Tyler was so excited, and totally ready for his usual 1:00 nap but it was not to be! We got there ON TIME AGAIN! seriously. the weekend was like a record. We were on time or early about half the weekend. It was amazing. It was SO fun to get to see every one's kids! Sometimes I really can't see a kids parents in them- it's just not something I usually see, but let me tell you some of my classmates kids are like miniatures of them! I really enjoyed getting to see everyone and their families and visit more. I also enjoyed that Tyler had so much fun. Someone thought to bring some toys for the kids and Gary taught Tyler how to ride a bike! It was so cute. he just rode that think back and forth. He didn't share as well as I'd like him to but overall he was nice to the other kids. Gary, of course, found the radio and stayed glued to it because some game was on. We left a little after 4 which put us late getting to the restaurant where we were meeting Gary's parents, Josh and Lia. That would have been so much fun had we not had two completely exhausted kids with us. Tyler probably sat still for a total of 10 minutes the entire time we were at the picnic (3 hours) so it took him awhile in the car to calm down. That meant he only got about 20-30 minutes of a nap before we got there. Grace- who knows what her issue was but she had one. Tyler literally laid on Gary and I with his blankie (which I caved and allowed him to have along with his Blue...) He perked up a little to eat when his food came and then promptly laid back down. I was honestly very embarrassed but when he wasn't laying down he was crying and he was just not in a frame of mind to be taken to the car for time out or spanked. The poor kid should have been napping. We'd done one thing to many and we, our family, and probably the booth behind us payed the price. At one point Tyler literally slid or rolled (I can't be sure) off of the bench onto the floor. Gary and just left to try to calm Grace out in the lobby. I was trying to scarf down my meal so I could get Tyler calmed down before Gary came back so I could take Grace and he could finish eating. Suddenly my son was on the floor. i lost it I literally cracked up. I was laughing and crying so hard I could not stop. Josh had to help me get Tyler up off the floor because I could not even see him under there tears were so bad in my eyes. Poor Lia couldn't tell if she should laugh or not because I was clearly laughing and Josh was clearly telling her not to upset me any further. I learned at that moment that I can take a lot more than I realize sometimes. Poor Tyler just cried and I just held him and rocked him and laughed. He must have though I was crazy. Gary, from the lobby was undoubtedly wondering- not for the first time I'm sure- what he'd gotten himself into with a wife and two kids! If my in laws didn't think I was crazy enough yet that sealed it. Ironically Tyler did not sleep the whole way home. He did however whine and cry for two hours after we got home until it was bedtime. After all we'd been through I was NOT just going to stick him in front of the TV or get on a new go to bed early-get up at the crack of dawn schedule!!! For some reason my nervous breakdown Sunday poured into Monday as well. I was in the frame of mind that no matter how Tyler was acting (normal for a kid who got half his normal sleep for the weekend- BAD) I was going to Jen's to get milk. She's offered it, our tax money has paid for it, and we were almost out. Then I got an email, while still in my jammies, that she was leaving the house in a half hour from when I was reading. Well- save that for later! Since I had it in my head that I was getting out the house I decided to do something drastic. I took the kids out. By myself. I packed us all up and we went to the library and then to the playground and I let Tyler run around. He was actually so tired, and there were NO other people there let alone kids, that when I said he had 10 more minutes he suggested we just go now. We went home, had lunch and he took a really good nap. I got him up and we went to Jen's after that. Her daughter was napping and her son was sick which devastated Tyler (I'm still hearing about it!) but at least we went and got our milk, I got to visit with Jen for a few minutes, and Tyler got to play with someone else's toys for a few minutes. He just made himself right at home! We got home and Gary came soon after- we decided to hit the Bush's. As if they'd not had enough of us the day before. ugh. We went over for dinner and came home in time to get Tyler into bed. Tuesday I was SO tired! We tried getting back on regular schedule and it was a pretty good day. I was (and am) extremely crabby though. Tyler is so whiny and no behaving. I swear something with October and the moon and Halloween coming makes kids misbehave. I really don't believe that but Tyler has become this monster of himself lately! We took Grace to the surgeon and thankfully all is well. We have needed to hit Sam's Club for awhile now and since we were down to literally 3 rolls of toilet paper I kind of insisted we go on the way home. It wasn't that hard of a sell. On the way from Akron to the Sam's Gary suggested we go get their hot dog meals. I know it's cheap, I know we are trying to save for a car and get out of debt blah blah blah but really- a hot dog at Sam's? We've not paid to eat out in almost 2 weeks and that's how we celebrate? Turns out it was really good. The hot dogs are HUGE!! The pop is too! I drank about a gallon of Coke Zero and a huge hot dog. Gary got his gallon cup and hot dog and Doritos (you bet i had some!) and we got Tyler the "slice" of pizza which turned out to be about a quarter of a pie. They even cut it in two so they looked like normal slices. Needless to say Gary was right- we got more for our 7$ there than anywhere else we could have gone. I have a love/hate relationship with Sam's. I love that they have so much stuff there and I love that it's huge so you can buy enough of anything to last you a year (like taco seasoning!) but I HATE that it's so expensive! Yes, my taco seasoning will last me a year, but it was 7$ up front! We walked out of there with like 7 items and spent almost 80$. Unreal. I could spend thousands of dollars in that store without even thinking about it. Get me into books, jewelery, movies or electronics and that number skyrockets. The funny moment of the day came when we went down the Christmas aisle and saw a life size Santa statue. We've decided that we are going back with our camera and having Tyler stand beside it and then us holding Grace and that's how we're doing Santa pix this year. No more waiting in line or skipping them altogether b/c Tyler is afraid or getting 4 3x5 pictures for 20$. Tyler had a breakdown in what I call the Toy Aisle. They had 30 matchbox cars for 27$ and he LOST it when he could not get it. After several threats, an in-store time out and lots of judgemental and sympathetic looks from other customers I left Gary with Grace in the stroller and the cart and marched Tyler out to the car. All I could think about the whole way out there was how much I sounded like my mother. I couldn't think of any other way to handle it though so out we went. he got his spanking, sat in his seat and then we went back. Of course when I asked him if he was ready to behave he said NO and when I asked if he needed to go back to the car for a time out he said, and I quote "yes, and another spanking too mommy. I"m not a good listener- I still want those cars". *SIGH* Gary showed me the latest Bose surround sound (yes dear, next time we have 1000$ we don't know what to do with you can get it. or your XBOX360 you've been wanting since it came out shortly after our regular xbox was stolen) and then I said we've just got to leave. Enough is enough. Tyler lost his TV privileges that night and did not get to finish his sucker from the doctor. Wednesday was yesterday and I'm sure we did something... I know I organized his room, closet and vacuumed the whole house but I'm sure there was more to the day then that.... whatever it was will have to wait till the next blog because it's after midnight and my fingers are sore from typing so much. Gary- if you read this far without hints and tips from cheater friends out there I will give you 3 days of back rubs.