Mother's Day 2009 (Long post so pull up a chair)

It's so nice to have a house that can accommodate more than just Mike and I! We had a cookout on Sunday to celebrate the Mom's of the family. (GO US!!) Adam and Faith and the girls were here, Yiayia and Paupu, Bobby and Tonya and baby Summer Ann came over, Katie and Mel and Mom and Dad. (Byrd) House was full and loved it! Mike cooked burgers and hot dogs on the grill and Mom and Katie brought salads and corn. Good food, good company, top it off with Mother's Day cards and flowers (thanks Bryce/Mike), good times.

Kara, Danica and Bryce "helped" me bake a cake for all of the Mamas. The kiddies drug the kitchen chairs over to the counter (Danica pulled while Bryce pushed her chair) and everyone climbed up to pitch in (make a mess). Bryce was more interested in playing with the faucet, Danica only wanted to use the mixer and Kara cracked the eggs and dumped them in (explains the crunchiness of the cake....kidding, she did great!) Danica quickly lost interest and Bryce finally was getting into it when he knew he could lick the bowl and spoon. The bowl ended up on his head. Maybe the cake mix is good for the scalp, who knew. The cake turned out great...no complaints from the peanut gallery (as my FIL would say).

The fun continued in the backyard with the kids playing in the pools...AKA frog, kiddie pool that can fit one 3 yr old comfortably, one 3 yr old and a 4 yr old with the potential for a scuffle, or one 3 yr old and one 4 yr old and a 16 month old with the guarantee of viewing a WWF match. It's a good thing I had the lid to the sandbox filled with water or it could have been ugly. (very "red-neck" I know.) The sprinkler Mike and Adam bought was an added bonus. The kids ran around and jumped from pool to lid to sprinkler...making sure to pick up the sprinkler to spray one of the adults/innocent, dry, fully clothed bystanders in spraying distance. It looked like fun and it reminded of the days in Nebraska when we would play in the sprinkler in the backyard. Pools were not a common luxury on our block.

Adam and Faith and the girls left on Tuesday to head over to Disney. We really enjoyed their company and I know Bryce will miss the girls. When they arrived last Friday, he was absolutely overcome with excitement...Kara and Danica were running around in the playroom, sliding into the ball pit when Bryce first saw them. He was so overwhelmed with these "little people" that he would just stare and squeeze his fists and say "OOOOOHHHHHHH". After a few minutes of observing and assessing the situation, he started interacting with them. They would pile up on the slide and all slide down at once. Throw balls everywhere, run around. He loved it. He doesn't have to many playmates (none his age) so I'm sure he enjoyed having people around that were his size, could understand his gibberish, didn't mind if he ran around naked in the yard, and that had as much energy as him. Wooh, those kids are supercharged (I'm sure Adam had nothing to do with that.) They were well behaved and seemed excited to be in Florida. Instead of asking "Where's Bobby/Tonya" the entire time....it was now "Where's Baby Summer?" :) Just a reminder Bobby/Tonya- once you have kids, you don't exist anymore! (HA!) That's another blog, another time. :)

So, back to the weekend. We went over to Mom and Dad's on Monday to swim and visit. The shuttle was scheduled to launch but was to low or something so we were unable to see it. Went swimming and ate lunch. "Danica the Daredevil" decided she was going to jump off of the high part of the deck into the deep end. She had her "floatie" device on but still, she's not even technically 3 yet (Junish). Crazy girl!! We couldn't believe it!

When we were 10 out of 10 on the prune scale (according to Dad) Mom, Dad and I got out. Faith the "non-swimmer" of the bunch and Kara and Danica stayed in a bit longer. Danica wanted to take her floatie off so Adam took it off. We thought she was done for the day. SPLASH! She decided to jump in the shallow end- no floatie! She immediately went under and got pushed out by the jet. Adam was on the sidelines saying she'll be okay and the non-swimmer (who has to plug her nose to go under) was left to save her. Faith finally made it over to her (sorry Faith, you were a little slow!) and she was fine. She whimpered a bit but said "I'm okay" and wanted more! Crazy girl.

Bryce was cranky this weekend. I think it was because of all of the people at the house, the change in his routine (if we even have one), the fact that he had to share mama, and just being 16 months old. Mike would say he was spoiled. That simple. I really think he did not like sharing his "mommy and me" time with other kids and other people. He didn't have my undivided attention and I think he was upset about it.

Yesterday I took the day off (was going to go to Disney but decided to not tackle that just yet) and he was angel. We ate breakfast without a fuss, played without time outs, went to the bank and charmed the tellers, and drove to IKEA without a problem. He wouldn't keep his left shoe on but other than that and wanting to touch everything, he was really good. He got tired when we were checking out but I gave him his bottle (what was left of it) and he was asleep after 5 minutes. Well, I first had to replenish his bottle with water...I had a full bottle of milk before we left for the car ride to the bank but he drank half of it. In the parking lot when I was pulling out I realized he was almost on "E". Not wanting to fight that battle, my quick-thinking/survival-mommy skills kicked in and I filled the bottle with the rest of his water. His first sip of the milk-water combo was one of "Uhh, what is this crap?" but he eventually downed it and was snoozin'. Crisis averted.

IKEA was packed but if you know what you want (Mike and I had 3 practice trips to the one in Orlando when we were looking for good deals on furniture, etc. for the new house) than you can get in and out pretty quickly. The parking is a little confusing, with the billion EXIT and LOADING ZONE signs and parking attendants frantically waving there batons at you.

(<----- cute plush toy I bought for Bryce....)

TIP #1: Do not park in the first spot you come across. You will be directed to the parking spaces near the EXIT, not the Entrance. Be patient and drive around until you get to the other side of the lot and you should be able to find a close spot. In the end, if you are buying any large items, you will have to pull your car up to the LOADING ZONE anyways which means you have to drive your car from where you parked to the LOADING ZONE.

TIP #2: Go hungry. The cinnamon buns are to die for! It smells like the airport terminals in the morning when the aroma of Cinnabon blasts you once you get through security. They also have other food that you can buy- meatballs, cheese, chocolate, etc.

(...of course we had to buy one for summer too --->)

TIP #3: Do not load your 16 month old in a regular size cart along with your purse and diaper bag and plan on using the elevator to go up to the second level. The (Nazi) elevator attendant will crush that plan real quick. Apparently, the area upstairs is narrow. IKEA is a ginormous warehouse...narrow, not even close. I argued with Hitler for awhile telling him that I got Bryce in the cart and once he is taken out, it's going to be a battle (another one I would like to avoid) to get him to sit back down. My power of persuasion and the irritated, with a splash of pitiful, tone to my voice failed me and I was running over to another employee to see if I could convince her to let me break the IKEA cart law. She kindly said no. So I gathered all of my belongings (crap) and Bryce and did a quicko-chango into the mini cart with the bag on the back of it. Not convenient or good for shopping. Bryce didn't put up a fight though. In the end, the mini cart was better off for the bank account- the bag on the back limited my purchase capabilities (couldn't fit that much stuff (crap) in the bag as I could in a regular cart).

(Cute mirror I bought for Bryce's room...or, as Mike said, "just one more thing I have to hang on the wall." Cat not included. ------------------------------------------------>)

TIP #4: Do not self check out. I thought, hey, there's no line and I can speed things up. Complete opposite. I had to scan each item at least a zillion times before it would register. Took twice as long to pay. (NOTE: Without a 16 month old, might be do-able. Otherwise, stick with the old school method of checking out.)

TIP#5: Go on a week day before lunch. I went at lunch time on Tuesday. Packed but not overwhelming. Every morning when Katie and I drive to work we pass IKEA on Crosstown. No cars in the parking lot and I think it opens at 9:00 a.m

Another great weekend at the Byrdhouse.

Mother's Day 2009 (<------Click here to view photo montage...still a novice blogger so I couldn't figure out how to attach the actual montage clip...baby steps)