Gobbles time with a side of sass

It's begun.  Mo-ooom.  You're embarrassing me! 

Sunday morning was beautiful.  Crisp, fall weather and our Halloween decorations came out of storage just in time to spruce up the house.  Seriously, who's not going to buy now that we have the dollar store pumpkin cutouts on every window?  After a showing Saturday where the buyer and agent showed up a half hour early and let themselves through our house with the DOGS still inside, we're so over this house selling thing.  C'mon St. Joseph statue buried under a rock in the backyard - help us out!

But I digress.  Sunday was shaping up to be a perfect autumn day, but for the fact that hubs was working all weekend.  Gobbles and I decided to make the best of it.  We leashed up the dogs for a nice stroll around the block.  I overestimated the chill in the air, and halfway up the block in true Gobbles fashion he threw a tantrum over his coat.  Fine, I took it off.  A few minutes later he dropped Spoons' leash, and a minute or so after that he decided it was time to be carried.  That's when we turned around, because I am growing by the minute and was already struggling with two dogs, a bag of poop, and a hoodie.  I wasn't about to add another 30 lbs to my load around the block. 

When we turned back to the house, Gobbles noticed the neighborhood kids had gathered for a football game in the street.  Kids!  he shouted.  Hi Kids! and started running down the sidewalk in their direction.  As long as he stayed out of the street, I was fine with that.  We made it back to the house and he planted himself at the bottom of the driveway to watch the game.  Throwing!  Running!  No Push!   Will my son become a sportscaster?

Since he clearly wanted to stay outside and watch the cool kids I decided to bring out his bike so we wouldn't be the creep neighbors just watching the little boys play football.  The pups hadn't had their fill of the outdoors either, so Cannoli got hitched to the front rail and Spoons, well she just followed us up and down the sidewalk.

Gobbles' bike is a big wheel with a handle so I can push him, though the handle became more useful in as something to grab onto to stop the runaway vehicle as it cruised down the slight incline on the sidewalk.  As we travelled up and down the 3 home stretch around our driveway, Gobbles would pedal furiously, then give up on the pedals to just push himself along the sidewalk, then just stop for a moment to observe the football game.  I walked behind him for help steering and Spoons scampered ahead, excited to be free from a leash.  Poor Cannoli just chewed on the grass up on the lawn.

As we were making our way up the sidewalk, I pushed the bike to give my boy a little help, as he was clearly struggling to get the bike up the slight incline.  All of the sudden, he put his feet down, turned around, looked me square in the eye, and said All done Mommy.  I don't want that.  No push. I do it.  He waved his hand at me and gestured towards the kids playing.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  22 Months old and he already wants me to go unnoticed by his peers.  I guess my delusions of being the "cool mom" are over.  That era was way too short.  Thank goodness the Lil Lobster Roll will be here in 15 weeks, hopefully she'll want to hang out with me :)

yayyyy!!  Time to play outside!  Here I come, Kids!



I'm a big boy!



Aww Mommy!  I still love you - CHEESE!

Oh - wait - look at the Kids!

Yea!  Play Ball Kids!

stop and see the airplanes

It's only Tuesday morning but this week is shaping up to be one of the most stressful at work in a long time.  A lot is up in the air and I'm in no mood to deal with the politics that has become my job.  I was hired to manage a project, not a department.  I want to be a drone, not climb the corporate ladder and deal with all the bs that goes with it.

My head is filled with constant worries about selling our house, getting Gobbles adjusted for the Lil Lobster roll, and getting the seemingly mundane to-do list done (get a haircut -about 5 months overdue, get the puppies their shots - 1 month over due, etc etc).

Gobbles slept horribly last night, plagued with some kind of cough that left him almost wheezing and me kneeling by his bed every hour.

But this morning, during his hearty breakfast, he was the same kid as always, smiling, laughing, cracking jokes, and requesting songs from tone deaf mommy.  Yesterday it was Party in the U.S.A, today was Rockin' Robin.

During our typical 15-minute late rush out the door, while I was lugging lunches and work bags, he excitedly ran towards the car and stopped.  I loaded our stuff in the car and turned to see my boy staring at the sky, pointing and waving excitedly.  Look Mommy!  Airplane!  There it is!  I scooped him up so he could get a better look.  Clear as day, not lost behind the clouds as it usually is, was one of the magnificent silver machines making its way to the airport.  Despite the rush, we stopped and watched the airplane until it disappeared behind the trees.  All done airplane!  Bye Bye Airplane!

My son taught me a valuable lesson this morning.  Take the time to appreciate the little things - getting to see an airplane made his morning - and stop worrying about everything else.  As long as I have my family to enjoy the small moments with, the other ones will not break me. 

A Month's Worth

I can't believe it's October.  I can't believe my son will be two in less than 10 weeks.  I can't believe I'll have two children in four months.  And I can't believe we're not starting the fall in a new house.

100 days on the market, priced at what we payed 6 years ago, already taking a loss if you include the basement renovations and other improvements we made.   I know the market is terrible and it's a stupid time to sell when you don't have to, but it's such a good time to buy that we can manage to get our forever home without breaking the bank if we could just unload this place.  I'm frustrated, having fantasized about having a big birthday party for Gobbles 2nd, something that likely cannot happen in the middle of winter in our little abode.  Hubs doesn't want to squeeze so may people inside to the point of discomfort... he forgot about the time when we had over 30 people stashed in our basement, beer pong and all, when our bbq got rained out. 

I just wish I could let it go and accept that we may be here a few more years.  But the thought of bringing our Pod back here and unloading all our excess furniture and junk seems like such a failure to me, such a waste of time and money.  If all of this didn't take up my every waking thought, maybe I'd have the time to write about how awesome my son is, or how excited I am to meet my daughter.

So, house stress out.  Moving on...

Gobbles is getting older with every second that ticks by.  A month or so I wrote about converting the crib to a big boy bed, but I never thought we'd have to find a solution at Grandma's too.  The other day while he was over there and went down for a nap, he climbed out of the pack and play.  He was somehow able to monkey up the mesh side of the pack and play enough to get out.  Twice.  This of course sent my parents into a tizzy of panic about never being able to have him sleep over again, but we'll figure something out I'm sure. 

He's also started speaking in simple sentences, counting to twenty, and showing a bit of an attitude.  Mommy, I tired.  Good GIRL Spoons (shpumps).  NO! Gobbles' turn!  (lord help me)  I'm amazed at the rapid changes in him but at the same time can barely remember what he was like just a few months ago... thank goodness I'm recording it in some way!  Now our only hope is that the sharing gets a bit better by the time Lil Lobster Roll makes her appearance.  Today while I was home sick with him (well, he had a fever yesterday but there's that pesky 24 hour fever free policy at daycare), we practiced sharing, but instead of letting me have what I asked him to share, he looked at me with pity and offered hugs.  That's not going to cut it buddy, hugs won't do when it's your turn to buy a round at the bar.

We've been having a ton of fun though lately, and overall I love this age.  As tired as I get from all of the random weekend activities we do, it's always cool to see Gobbles experience something new.  In the last three weeks he's been on the moon bounce at our neighborhood block party, to the Please Touch Museum, and to a township parade.  Now parades are nothing new to him (kicking myself right now, just looked back to link up to a 4th of july post which a never MADE.  I have the best pics and videos of him dancing!) but it's funny to see what a few months can do to his reactions to certain things.  He can now identify a lot of the participants - fire trucks, horses, kids, etc, when before he just gazed in awe. 

Now if only I can keep this thing updated more often, I wouldn't have to put so many pictures in one post...

Ha!  Sick day?   I fooled you Mommy!  I faked my temp yesterday at school just so I could have today off with you!  I even manipulated you into getting me pizza because you felt so bad for me missing pizza day at school.  bah ha ha ha ha!

YES!  The firs tthing we got to do at the please touch museum is something to get me soaking wet! 

Hi Alice.  I'm Gobbles.  need help?

You caught me!  My shirt is still wet...

... but that's probably because i'm on a BOAT.  duh!

My favorite thing in this place.  A wheel attached to a giant stationary truck!

Hmm..  still wet...

I love grocery shopping...

How you doin' ladies?  I see you made the same selections as I have? 

Hmm.  where to go next?

Now that my shirt is finally dry, time to add a little sweat!

man riding SEPTA is no fun!

Hoooray!!

seriously, why include these?  you can't even tell it's me!

Bouncy Bouncy!

i love block parties...

and parades!  really anywhere there's food!

My first lollypop.  Didn't really lick it the way i was supposed to.  We'll try again in a few months...