A Week in Pictures {Mar 25-31}

sunday. playing dress up with dad.

monday. making funny faces.

tuesday. coloring is dangerous work.

wednesday. manning the space station.

thursday. making a birthday wishlist.

friday. trying on mom's necklaces.

saturday. catching bubbles with the wand.

Air Zoo

My parents have this special radar. They know when I’m just about at my wits end with Tennyson and they swoop in for a rescue. We’ve hit a real rough patch lately. Tennyson is getting older, and he’s getting more frustrated that he can’t communicate what he wants. This leads to a lot of grunting and whining when I don’t understand his grunts and whines, it leads to full on tantrums which don’t stop until I’ve finally guessed what it was he wanted in the first place. Add in the terrible twos and you’ve got a recipe for disaster. Add in a very pregnant mommy, and you’re in a pretty dark place. Mike is usually our savior, but lately he’s been really loaded down with schoolwork. So we’ve been on our own, and it’s been a long couple of days.

As such, I was overjoyed when my parents called yesterday and asked if we could meet them today to go to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo. Obviously, we could, and I was able to remain sane for the next 24 hours knowing that relief was close.

Then I almost had a breakdown in the museum because I had been so looking forward to somewhere Tennyson would have fun, and all we saw for the first half hour was something more like this:

Which is nothing different from what I’ve seen at home for the past three days.

Luckily grandma swooped into the rescue and started walking around the planes with him. He had a lot to tell her, so at each plane they’d stop and he’d tell a story or two. Then they’d move on. Each time they stopped at a plane, his mood got markedly better.

And there was much rejoicing.

We were able to really enjoy the rest of the museum. We saw a lot of cool planes.

And Tennyson got to work for a while on the space station.

Then we went on a couple of rides. Well, this ride. Because the other ride (that was actually less intense than this) wouldn’t let me go because I’m pregnant. Yeah, pretty sure a kiddy ride isn’t going to send me into labor. Even if it did, I’d greet it with open arms at this point. So after being not allowed to ride the real kiddy ride, I had given up on being able to go on any, since the rest all had height limits that Tennyson didn’t meet. Not even close. But the lady working the hot air balloon ride was much nicer than the man at the other one, and she let pregnant ol’ me and my tiny boy go on, no questions asked.

 

Then to end the day, we went bowling. This bowling alley was pretty awesome. Look at this cool contraption they had for Tennyson!

 

I had seen wire ones to push the ball down before, but never anything like this. He fell instantly in love. He even got a spare or two! He had his own lane to bowl on, so he just sent ball after ball down to knock over the pins. I wish this alley were closer so we could go back all the time. I guess we’ll just have to settle for meeting my family there on occasion!

Thanks mom and dad for the awesome day. And for paying attention to your special radar. You’ve saved us yet again.

A Week in Pictures {Mar 18-24}

sunday. explorer extraordinaire.

monday. a candle makes a fun toy.

tuesday. those cryin' eyes.

wednesday. distracted driver.

thursday. keeping those pearly whites.

friday. on the lookout for dad monster.

saturday. thirty four weeks pregnant.

A Week in Pictures {Mar 11-17}

sunday. at the big table.

monday. tools of the trade.

tuesday. it's not graffiti if it comes off with a sponge.

wednesday. enjoying the warm weather.

thursday. reading a bedtime story.

friday. fonzi's newest competition.

saturday. dad and his little irish boy.

things i like

i like spring in michigan. 

always have, always will.

i like being outside.

i like seeing the sun. 

i like that the humidity is still relatively low and the temperatures aren’t yet soaring. 

i like not sweating. 

i like the blue sky.

i like that my boy is bigger this year.

i like having a two year old in the spring better than i liked having a one year old in the spring.

i like that he can walk.

i like that he can run.

i like that he plays with things like bubbles and sidewalk chalk.

i like listening to him babble on and on about what he's drawing.

 i like the smell of fresh air.

i like having the windows open and the house clean and the candles lit.

i like not having to use my thermostat.    

i like that spring means baby girl is almost here. 

i like being close to the end of pregnancy. 

i like knowing that next spring tennyson will have someone cooler than mommy to play around outside with him. 

i like spring in michigan. 

always have, always will.

A Week in Pictures {Mar 4-10}

sunday. playing in the pews at church.

monday. running a fever.

tuesday. taking our own temperature.

wednesday. signing "bird".

thursday. a night time mickey mouse episode.

friday. reading a book with grandpa.

saturday. lounging.

a break

It was about time for spring break to roll around.

I’ll bet you can guess what we did. And if you can’t, you haven’t spent enough time reading our blog.

We went to Chicago.

And since the weather was so nice, we spent the first whole day at the zoo, where I learned that I’m now way too pregnant to be walking around carrying Tennyson, and I also learned that Tennyson has some strange power over animals.

He played peekaboo with an Armadillo. I’m not even joking. The armadillo would come out of its cave.

Tennyson would laugh. Then the armadillo would run back into its cave. Tennyson would bang his hands on the ledge.

The armadillo would come back out. Tennyson would laugh, and the whole thing would start over again. It would have gone on for hours if we’d have let it. 

And it wasn’t just the armadillo. At nearly every display we went to, the animals would instantly run to the glass toward Tennyson. He got to see a lot of animals extremely up close. 

Tennyson also got to go to his first movie. I was very nervous about how he’d do. He’s never really sat through an entire movie before, unless he’s sick. But he did amazing. It really shouldn’t surprise me. I always get nervous about how he’ll handle things and then he’s no trouble at all… he’s the easiest kid ever. He spent the movie moving between laps, or sitting in his own chair, or standing up and peeking through the chairs in front of us. We strategized perfectly because it was just before nap time, so he wasn’t overly hyper, plus it was 10:30 on a school day, so the only other people in the movie were moms with 2 and 3 year olds like us. He watched the entire movie without a single complaint. Oh, and please ignore how awfully giant I look. So much baby.

 

The rest of the vacation was really just spent hanging out around the house. Tennyson is always spoiled rotten. He got to play Just Dance with his aunts, his uncle chased him around the house, grandma played kitchen with him for hours on end, and grandpa wrestled and watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse with him every morning.

The trip flew by. I love our little getaways to see family. Life is always so quiet when we get home.