My Boy

Kaleb is hard to get up for school in the mornings. Like hide under the covers and whine for 10 minutes followed by 20  minutes to get dressed hard. I usually go in prepared with some kind of positive "Hey hey hey it's Friday" or "Woot Woot I'm making pancakes for breakfast" to get him excited to wake up and get dressed. This morning's positive greeting was easy! "Wake up! It's the last day of 2nd grade!". He jumped up and got dressed probably the fastest I have ever seen him do it. He is super excited to start his summer vacation. And why wouldn't he be... he gets to spend every day all day with his mother! ;)

He is growing so fast! I love it and hate it all at the same time. I love seeing his personality develop and how smart and funny he is. I love that he has his own mind and opinion (I also hate that part as well sometimes) and that we can have interesting and intelligent conversations. I hate it for the obvious reasons. He is not a baby anymore, not even close. He can do almost anything by himself and needs no help from mom. He does not appreciate all of the parental rules and demands that I impose on him (like do your homework, take a shower, turn off the video games, eat your vegetables, comb your hair) and gets mad at me and brings out the attitude. But as a parent I know that is all part of the job and although it is tough and not at all fun it is just part of the growing up process. Sometimes the only thing that gets me through it is thinking about how much he will love and appreciate me when he is an adult and understands how much I love him and that everything I ever did was for a purpose..to grow him into a man for him to be everything that being a man means. I hope he grows up to know that anyway! 

So this morning I dropped him off and said "Have a great last day of 2nd grade!". I drove off and I cried for a good minute or so on the way home. I think it was just a combination of being sad about the rapid pace in which he is growing up and the pride I feel when I think about what a great kid he is. He is a sweet, funny, smart and loving boy and I love him so much. When I pick him up today I will be officially be the mom of a 3rd grader! Man that makes me sound old! 

Welcome to the world Kaleb Robert!

Momma loves those big blue eyes!

My crazy toddler

Big boy on a skateboard!

Too cool for Pre-K graduation

Horsing around

Kaleb becomes a big brother!

Lost his first front tooth!

First day of 2nd grade

My handsome boy 

Word to your Mother

Ah Mother's Day. The one day of the year where moms get recognized for all of the things that they do. All of the cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, snot wiping, diaper changing, butt wiping, sibling refereeing, boo boo kissing goodness. That doesn't even cover mother's of pre-teens and teens. Yikes! I don't even want to think about all of the fun that is going to come with that. I am seriously already stressing about those days and have already put my doctor on speed dial to get my prescription of Xanax ordered up for those days. I shudder just thinking about it. I have heard it said a million times from a million different sources that being a mom is the hardest job on earth. Agreed.

So why in the hell do so many women sign up for this crazy ass job? Why are most women hardwired to yearn for motherhood? Why do babies have to smell so good? To tell the truth I stated through most of my teen and early adult years that I never wanted to have children. I wanted to live my life and be free and didn't want to be tied down to some needy little human calling me mommy. Then came Kaleb. Our happy little surprise. Something else I have heard a million times from a million different sources is this: you never know true love until you become a mother. Agreed. I suppose this is also true about becoming a father but this isn't about them! :)

It is not a feeling that can be explained but only felt. I sat for a few minutes and tried to put it into words but I just couldn't find the right combination of words to justify the feeling. It is just amazing to be a mother. That is the simplest way I can put it. We have the amazing job of growing a baby in our bodies, to feel them move and grow, to bring them into our world and love them like nobody else ever will. It is a beautiful gift that I am so happy and proud that I have been given not once but twice!

As nice as it is to have a "Mother's Day" to get some special recognition for all I do for my family, it isn't really necessary. I get joy every day from my kids. Those little crazy, sweet, whiney, stubborn, beautiful kids. All I need is a smile, a giggle out of happiness, an "I love you Momma" or a stolen kiss while they are soundly sleeping. Motherhood might be the hardest job on earth but it is also the BEST job on earth.

And hey, guess what? I got a new camera for Mother's Day! Remember I said in my last blog that I broke mine at my sister in laws bachelorette party? Well I got a new one today and it is waaaaaay nicer than my last camera. Yeah! We celebrated Mother's Day with dinner at my mother in laws house (prepared by my wonderful father in law Doug). We brought my mom along and we all had a really nice time. I love my mother in law like my own mother so it was nice to be able to be with my mom and Cindy (MIL) both today. My mom isn't in the best health and we had a real scare with her last summer and almost lost her. So it could go unsaid that it was a huge blessing to be able to celebrate Mother's Day with her this year. But I said it anyway because she reads my blog and it will make her feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Love you mom. :) I took lots of photos today with my new camera. Check em out!

Me and my momma

Momma and sis

Sis and Ma Cindy

Sis and Ma Debbie

Cindy and Brandi

My FIL Doug and his mom Roberta

Me and my babies

Brandi and her boys

Beer AND liquor, never sicker!!

So last Saturday was the big bachelorette party for my sister in law Brandi. We had very loose plans which included a little pre-party at my mother in laws house and then down to Kansas City Power & Light for "Cinco de Drinko".  Being that is was Cinco De Mayo I thought we should have some margaritas before we left. I had previously found a margarita recipe on Pinterest that was labeled by a previous pinner "The BEST margarita recipe EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Seriously. Okay I love margaritas but am not a big fan of sweet and sour mix. This recipe had none. So I went for it. You mix tequila, limade mix, water, 7 up and a bottle of Corona together and do get some pretty tasty margaritas. (click here for actual recipe) I was able to get about 2 of these down before we left. I was feeling a bit tipsy but not too bad when we got to our destination. Now the premise of "Cinco de Drinko" was that for 3 hours you got free cover charges into all of the bars and ALL YOU CAN DRINK beer and wells. Well as I have noted before I am 'eh hem' frugal..... and had every intention of getting well more than my $20 worth. I decided to stick to beer. I have been known to get a little (ok a lot) crazy when I drink the hard stuff and since I had already consumed a sufficient amount of tequila I figured if I wanted to be standing at the end of the night I had better stick to beer. Let me add before I go on that back in the day, like waaaaaaay back in the day I was quite the drinker. Fast forward to present times and I should say that I get out to drink about once every month or two. However, in my mind I can still drink as much as I used to.

If you have been to P&L you know that is it usually filled with millions of 20 somethings dressed like prostitutes and douchebags. This night was no different. Wow! I always feel out of my element and a bit uncomfortable in places like this and it is definitely not my favorite place to hang out but I always have a good time when I do. And boy did I have a good time! We started at the Shark Bar which was somewhere new for me. It was fairly early so we were lucky enough to get a free table right in front of the dance floor. Score!! We drank, we danced, we had a good time. When it was time to move on we ended up in the PBR bar. I myself am not a country girl but like this place. We were working our way to the mechanical bull so that we could saddle up the bride when I suddenly didn't feel so good. It was hot in there and I needed some air! I found my way outside and even found a little raised slab of concrete to sit on and rest my feet. I sat there for awhile trying to get my bearings. Well I never found them. Instead I started barfing. Over and over again. I could see people jumping away from it and commenting about how gross it was. NOT MY PROUDEST MOMENT!!

So the long and short of the story is: I cannot drink like I used to, and don't want to ever drink like I used to again and DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT mix beer and liquor into one drink. I think it's a recipe for vomiting. Well that is what I am going to blame it on anyways.

So you know that the next day I was still sick and vomited several times throughout the day. It was the single worst hangover I have ever experienced in my life. Not to mention that I drunkenly dropped my camera while the lens was out and it is now broken, never to take another picture again! :(  BTW this is the 3rd camera I have broken in this same manner. Seriously. Good thing I buy cheap cameras!