Sunday, May 29, 2016

too many journals, too little time

I feel like I may be stretching myself a little thin.  I am trying to keep up on Cal's line a day journal, his online journal, his instagram (chat book) journal...and once I add a little to Grady's journal, and monthly summaries it's all I can do to find time to write a meaningful post!  Let alone, write in a journal of my own.  I feel anxiety about certain things, and one is that I will miss recording precious moments.  My days are full of them, and trying to balance being in the moment and making sure to record the moment is a harder job than it may sound.  Since my own journal entries are ranked the least important on my priority list, I want to make this blog be as personal as I can stand.  I want to look back and read real things, and not be afraid of what people may think if they happen to read a post here and there.  So, my commitment  to myself moving forward is to treat this blog as my own personal journal as it relates to my family interactions, and other thoughts and feelings.

So, lately, I have been feeling like I have no real talents or skills, at least that can contribute to an income during this time of medical school and residency.  I am sure most stay-at-home moms may feel this way at one point or another, but it has really dragged me down the last 6 months or so.  I see friends who chose to pursue a photography degree, or a dancing degree, or a childhood education degree, and they are able to make some money on the side doing something they love.  As I look back at my college career, I wonder what I would choose if I could do it all over again...and I still don't know?  I hope these next few years I can find time for a little more self discovery and find the thing that I am passionate about, besides my children and husband.  Ryan and I were talking about it the other day, and he asked, "what do you need to do or accomplish that will make you feel like you 'did' something with your life?"  And my ultimate dream would be to start a successful business, and provide a product or service that I was passionate about.

My dear sister-in-law has heard some of these rantings of mine, and called me up with a great idea.  Why not start some kind of music class for toddlers?  I have a musical background, and have a toddler that would DIE for a dedicated time for music, so the idea quickly grabbed my attention.  I have researched, and reached out to fellow moms, and there has been a lot of interest so my goal is to start this class in the fall of this year.  I hope it will bring me a little satisfaction, and sense of accomplishment.  And of course, I hope it helps foster Cal's love of music.

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Cal Turns Two!!

Our baby boy had his second birthday this week, and it still hasn't sunk in that Cal is TWO!  We wanted to make his day extra special.  When he woke up in the morning, we opened the door and threw balloons in the air and danced around - he was a little confused at first then joined in on the fun.  We quickly packed him up in his pjs, and headed out to our favorite donut shop "Snowflake Donuts" to let Cal pick whatever donut he wanted.  He went for the sprinkles of course :)  While there he let everyone know it was his "birffday" and showed them some arrangement of pointer finger/thumb to show that he was two.

Afterward, we thought the Zoo would be a fun place to spend the morning, so we headed that way.  On our drive over, we passed one of his dear friend's homes, and he started yelling "Emma's House!!!" over and over.  We debated, then decided to change plans.  If this was to be his day, then he gets to call the shots!  We gave Emma's mom a call and they happened to be around, so we had a fun little play date with one of Cal's best little friends.  We FaceTimed Mimi and opened some fun goodies (the highlight was opening a bag of his beloved pistachios) and FaceTimed my parents/Millar family to open the couple of presents we had, and he definitely loved being sung to more than opening presents!

After a good, long nap, we went to HEB to get a couple of last minute items for his birthday party and let Cal pick out a fun birthday balloon.  We quickly headed home, had a few bites of pizza, and friends started to trickle in.  The best part of the entire day was watching Cal's face during the "Happy Birthday" song - it was pure joy.  He was giggling, beaming, squealing, just THRILLED to be the center of attention.  He would say, "hooray!!" and blow out his candles over and over before the end of the song, and he loved having all of his buddies around for the evening.

What we love about Cal:

This boy is sweet as can be.  His latest thing is he'll come up to Ryan or I, pat us on the back, and tenderly say, "Mommy, are you ok?"  He is equally kind to Grady, and I catch him sharing his toys with his friends.

He is a smart cookie.  One of his friends gave him some motorcycles for his birthday, and in the morning he woke up and said, "Mommy, where my green motorcycle go?"  I found it, and it was green!  Then he showed me his other one and said, "Thith my puhhple motorcycle."  It was purple.  He is amazing.

Things I will miss at this stage is him climbing through the pantry in order to find his favorite thing to eat these days - pistachios.  Not a meal goes by without a few of those nuts on his plate.  But even cuter than that is the way he says them. Pistacheeeeoooothhhh

He transitioned so quickly to his big boy bed.  Since the first night, he has slept through the night and taken naps just as easily as he did when he was in his crib.  I could kiss him! (And I do!)

He still loves to be held and squeezed.  He is quick to give "smoochies" and I love that he still likes to be my baby every once in a while.

I catch him singing all the time!  When Grady starts to cry, he usually starts singing "rock a bye my baby", or he'll run up to the guitar and strum it while singing "twinkle twinkle little star", or the ABC's.

He loves to have people around.  He always says "c'mon daddy!" or "cmon mommy!" and asks us to play.  Although, he is very good at playing on his own.  He even has started to use the cutest sound effects (thank Ryan for that talent!)

Cal is a special boy.  He is loved by so many, and is such a joy to be around.  He makes us laugh, and brightens our day with his energy and enthusiasm.  We are SO blessed to be his parents, and look forward to watching him grow and learn each and every day.  We love you Mr. Cal!