My Five Year Old Big Boy

Yeah! Yeah! It’s been what – three months since I last posted a blog? I’ve been quite busy these past three months. I mean, SUPER BUSY! It’s not like I could just have a baby and then boom – back to normal/same-ol-usual self again. Yeah, right – in any case – if you’re reading this and you did have a baby and then “went back to normal” – you’re NOT NORMAL! :)

As the title of this blog states “My five-yr. old Big Boy” – Cy and I are now parenting to a five year old! Wow – where has the time gone? Evan turned the BIG 5 on Thursday, May 13th. We started the day opening two of his gifts when he woke up. He has been “dying” to get a zhu zhu pet, which is what he got. And then three months prior to his birthday, he saw in CVS Pharmacy VW Bug cars. He was “dying” to have one too! But, of course, I being the parent put my foot down and said, “ah, no to the bug” – I did however, make a mental note about and got it for his birthday! He opened it first and instantly said, “Punch buggy, don’t punch back” – I know you all know the game…J and then came the 2nd gift – the zhu zhu pet (Num nums). Boy, was he happy! He didn’t know what to think. Well, I take that back, he did know what to think – he was thinking…my zhu zhu pet needs a house! Clever, clever is my five-year old! I told him, well, maybe he’ll get one later. For now, we need to get ready for school. Off we went to school.

At Harmony, they have a birthday celebration for the birthday kid. Evan couldn’t wait for his special day. Cy and I joined their circle time for his celebration of life event. We were super happy to be sharing this special day with Evan and all of his Harmony friends! At the end of circle time, Evan shared his birthday poster to the whole class. Afterwards, they posted it on the classroom door so everyone else can see it too!

Circle Time @ Harmony School

Poster of Pictures

That evening Grandma and Papas bought some “property” for Evan’s zhu zhu pet, Num nums, and Jacob gave him another zhu zhu pet (Jilly) so Num nums wouldn’t be alone. Boy, was he ever so happy!

I’m going to make this short - we had a birthday party for Evan on Saturday at Saluda Shoals Park. This was his third time having his party here and frankly, he enjoyed it and so did we! This year was different since we couldn’t invite everyone and their mama to his party. We kept it low-key and invited a few friends from school, plus his Royal Ranger friends. I'm sorry for those we didn't invite, but again - we kept it VERY LOW-KEY! We could NOT-NOT invite his “twin” Greer! She’s four hours older than Evan. The funny thing about their parties – Evan’s party was around lunch time and Greer’s party was in the late afternoon – same location, but different shelters. How funny is that? Great minds think alike, right April? Even though we were exhausted from our little party, Evan took a quick cat nap at home, and then headed back to Saluda Shoals for Greer’s party. He had a blast and enjoyed Greer’s party favor – a TIE-DYE shirt!! So unique, so cool, so Evan (he loves tie-dye stuff).

Sophia, Evan & Greer - ALL SMILES!

Celebrating Evan’s fifth birthday was a blast. I’m so glad it’s over!

Yo Gabba Gabba! Party favors - bubbles, ring & personalized tags!

This blog has moved

This blog is now located at http://wendyearly.blogspot.com/

Is it just me or is this work week going by slow?

Can this week get any slower? It's only Wednesday! I so wish it was the weekend. I have tons of things to do!!

== Here's a picture of the diaper cake my little sister Lani sent me. It didn't arrive in time for my surprise shower. Super cute! ==

Preparing someone for my job while I'm out on maternity leave is the pits. I'm hoping the person is capable and understands my job wears many hats in the office. Thankfully, our office has switched over to a new phone system and I have that down packed! I love getting new electronic devices...its that feeling of learning new things and all of its neat features.

Other than work-related stuff, we still have yet to find the hardware to our crib. But, hey we got the bassinet ready and I've washed most of the linens and will be working on washing new baby clothes and some of Evan's hand-me-downs. Then there's the cleaning and rearranging of furniture in the spare room (soon-to-be Jacob's room). I've got majority of Evan's smaller-sized clothes organized in labeled bins. It's just the matter of putting them neatly in the closet.

As a family of three, we went to the Greatest Show on Earth - R&B Circus this past weekend. It was well worth it. If you're a friend who is reading this and despises the circus - don't hate me! We thought long and hard about taking Evan and the circus is a childhood memory for both Cy and I. So, we thought Evan would enjoy it - which he did. Had great seats and was mesmerized throughout the entire show. Ask him what was his favorite part of the show...he'll say the elephants and tigers and dogs -- the boy just loves animals! Here he is with his laser toy he got at the circus.

And speaking of animals, I picked up some really cool-looking valentine's day cards with animals for his classmates at school. He's so excited about it. We're going to modify his V-day cards a little bit -- I'll have a picture after we finish. He's just super excited!!

I'm making mini cupcakes for his class and had to run out to Michael's last night after I picked Evan up from school to get some of the cute mini cupcake liners. Whatta ya know...of all nights, they were making a kids craft. How can we pass that up. Here's what Evan made at Michael's - a valentine's day bag.

Come on weekend....get here already!!

Another Surprise!

Blessed to have a job - very BLESSED to have coworkers showing me some love today!

The infamous, "Everyone, please meet in the conference room for a meeting," blared over the page system. Of course, everyone heads downstairs w/notepads and pens ready for a meeting. Wow -- the conference room table is decorated with a baby boy theme, nice big bowl of fruit and pretty silver tray garnished with brownies and petit fours -- all in my honor. Another surprise for me!

It's Friday and what a great afternoon surprise! Adriana organized this sweet surprise for me and I am forever surprised and grateful!

Muchas Gracias Adriana!!

Also

THANK YOU to Leisha for the yummy brownies and petit fours, and Joe for the colorful banners and to the rest of the gang for the Target gift card!

Off for the weekend to conquer my organization skills in Jacob's room and find the hardware for the crib! It's somewhere around our house....

Have a great weekend everyone!

24 Days

Yes, 24 days until we welcome little baby Jacob into this world. Time is definitely ticking and I’m getting more and more anxious every day. I just read a mommy blog – and most of these mommy’s have their hospital bags packed and ready to go! Erg! Makes me think what the heck? Am I supposed to have my hospital bag ready to go too? I feel like the lyrics from the Black Eyed Peas song, Boom, Boom, Pow….”I’m so 3008, you so 2000 and late”. I’m not BOOM, BOOM, POWING the pregnancy prep!

I had the most wonderful surprise on Sunday. There are not enough words to express the way I felt on Sunday. Our friend’s Lauralee and Carl invited us over for lunch after church. We hadn’t seen their house since they moved from their apartment at the end of last year. I told her we would bring a pitcher of sweet tea – if someone invites us over….we simple HAVE to bring something – never empty-handed. I was just raised that way. So, she said that was fine.

Little did I know that she and all of my close friends, mom and husband had other plans for me that day.

We showed up like 10 minutes late (yeah – you know my blog page name isn’t a joke – we are usually always late). As we approached the house, I didn’t notice the cars in front of their house – all except my friend Audra’s blue van. I love the color of her van and it stands out! By the time we pulled into the driveway, I said to Cy, “Oh man Cy, are they having something for us?” And his reply was, “I don’t know, let’s go see”. Sure enough, we opened the door and I saw Lauralee and then saw Audra doing what she does best - flashing her camera like a paparazzi! She was taking pictures of the “ WOW, Wendy is shock looks” – but then, as I turned to my right, looking into the living room….I just burst into tears! There standing were the most amazing women of my life – all my friends, plus my mom! You know I’m pregnant so the rush of hormones just exploded in me and I was in total shock and awe! I was filled with over-whelming joy and excitement. I couldn’t believe how many of my friends where jam packed like pickles in the living room. I was truly surprised! I mean, really – I even bought Lauralee a housewarming gift, wrapped up and everything. I honestly did not know nor had any inkling about the shower. Everyone was amazed at how well no one “spilled the beans” to me.

They had been planning my surprise shower since December. They pulled it off and got me – and GOT ME GOOD! Everyone was in on it – including my three wonderful sisters who are scattered around the world. Rhojon is in Germany and she sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. It made the table even more beautiful. Lani is in Japan and she sent an awesome diaper cake – but it didn’t arrive in time, and then my little sister Amy who resides on Maui. She sent an animal blanket and eco-friendly bag. When Evan was born, Amy sent him an animal blanket and he still sleeps with it. Now Jacob will have one of his own. To top it off…each of my sisters had been in contact with my good friend Audra and they had written a personal letter to me saying how much they wanted to be at the shower. Lots of tear-jerking gushy stuff. I didn’t read the letters out loud at the shower, but I did read the beautiful poem Lani wrote about us - Four Sisters. I was crying, my mom was crying, and I think just about everyone in the room had tears trickling. My sisters are amazing and I so wished they were physically there. But you know what, in all three letters – they stated how blessed and fortunate I am to have sister-friends in my life who love me, be there for me and would put this all together – just as they would have if they lived nearby. My sisters are right! I am so grateful and I’m truly blessed to have close sister-friends here in South Carolina. I love surprises and love surprising others. That was the best, by far the best surprise ever!

If you’re reading this blog…again, there are not enough words to describe how much love I felt on Sunday. I can’t call out everyone’s name, but I know Audra out-did herself with planning and prepping (invitations, contacting my sisters, etc.), as well as Lauralee opening up her home to have the party, plus all the ladies who bought food, my mom, my three sisters and including my sweet Cy who made sure not to spill the beans, and made sure to get me there. So much hard work and effort for little ol’ ME! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart!

I don’t have pictures…but lots were taken. SCRATCH THAT - I see Audra has posted a picture of me on facebook. More to come! I’m sure Audra will give me a copy of them so I can share them. For now, here’s the beautiful invitation Audra created.

And I’ve also included a rather funny picture of Jacob taken at 33 weeks. It’s not his penis. Yep – you guessed it! It’s a little baby birdie flicking us off! Guess he wasn’t pleased by getting his picture taken. Hah!!

Randomness

Thoughts have boggled my mind of so many different things. Figured I should at least type them out so that I don't loose my marbles. :)

I'm about 6.5 weeks left until Jacob joins our family. So much to do, and so little time. I read daily mom blogs online - other mom's who are due around the same time as me and it appears that I'm way behind on preparation. We finally got the crib out of the basement and upstairs, but still haven't assembled it. Thankfully, we finished transitioning Evan's room from his loft bed to a regular bed. I'll have to post some pictures of his room. He's got a big room, but it looks even bigger without the slide or loft bed in there. He really likes his new safari bedding. We even put his dry-erase board up and also a cork board for his paintings. The boy loves art! We also switched dressers too! He knows how to put his own clothes away now...which is and will be a big help once Jacob arrives. A few months back, we started testing Evan on how well he can take a shower on his own. He has managed and can do it ...except with the help of washing his hair and me reminding him to don't forget to wash his armpits and other body parts. It never fails, his response is, "Oh, yeah". He's squeaky clean by the time he's done. Another PLUS to having a 4 yr. old who is growing up and starting to do things like a big boy. I'm grateful since I don't have to stand there or watch him because he knows what to do and is persistent on doing it on his own.

This whole week Cy has been spending time downstairs in the basement with the Green Monster. From the time he gets to work to the wee hours of the night. It has become a MONSTER just learning to fix those "little things" every time something goes wrong. If its not one thing, its another. He has done an excellent job getting our house nice and warm, and has worked really hard at assembling the Green Monster - joining it to our HVAC system. He did all the duct work and broke the brick wall to gain access to our chimney for the flue pipe. I'm eager to see our electric bill, since we haven't had to start the heat pump at all this week. I'm sure our bill will go down - but I wonder just how much.

I'm pretty nervous about this pregnancy. Because this is our second child, you would assume it would be pretty easy going. It is to some extent, but this pregnancy is little different for me. I'm more nervous since I know all what will happen when the time comes to give birth. Plus, I'm so worried about trying to juggle time with Cy and Evan, plus adding Jacob to the mix. I know, I know....I'm such a worry-wort. I shouldn't let these things get to me and let God handle it all. I know that. But, it's my flesh talking and it's just my personality. I know it'll all work out.


I realize I have lots to do before I take maternity leave from work. Taxes are due at the end of this month, so I'll be doing my W2's magic for my job. Always challenging for me since the forms are so tedious. I don't think my job "gets it" when it comes to recreating something from scratch. I also have to train a temp before I leave. Now that's not hard to do, but preparing and getting the right temp is somewhat challenging. I was successful four years ago when I went on maternity leave for Evan. So, I'm sure I'll do fine this time around. There are so many people without jobs now, the sad part about getting a temp, is that I will return to work and when I do, we would have to release the person. Which is sad, b/c jobs are so scarce nowadays. I'm blessed and thankful to have a job. Wish it was easy for everyone else.

I'm excited about my last crop tomorrow. I have so many pics to crop and need to finish Evan's ABC Album. It'll be a surprise gift to him from me. I plan on giving it to him at the hospital. It'll be neat to see him looking at it, b/c he already likes to look at my other scrapbooks. I must say, I don't have too many hobbies that keep me going, but scrap booking is my nitch. Just putting the photos together lets me reminisce on how much we have grown as a family. I look back at the days where it was just Cy and I and think - man, that was such a long time ago. And then I look back at Evan's baby pictures and it just melts my heart to see that he was once a tiny, tiny baby. Awee...

Have a great weekend!

Happy New Year - 2010

It's a New Year! Lots of things in store for me and my family this year! Looking forward to the new and wonderful blessings in this coming year. I hope the same to all my readers!

It was pretty quiet for us on New Years Eve. We put Evan down to sleep about 10ish. Last year he stayed up to watch the ball drop with us, he was pretty grumpy. So, this year -- we ended up lighting up some fireworks, then got him ready for bed. Since being out from school, he has been slacking on his naps - that includes New Years Eve. No complaints from him - he went straight to bed. I too got ready for bed and laid down a bit. I guess all of my day activities had wiped me out. In the meanwhile, Mr. Early was enjoying his time sipping on some cheap wine and catching up on his pre-recorded mechanic shows on TV. About 11:45 - I awoke and went into the living room to join Cy. About 8 minutes later (before midnight), my parents dropped by and watched the ball drop too. Yeah... it was very relaxing - not having to entertain or go out.

Spent all day Saturday at home. I couldn't believe it. WE STAYED HOME - didn't go anywhere! Hadn't done that in a very long time. We did get lots of things done. I ended up packing up all our Christmas decorations. And we also knocked down Evan's cool bed to a regular twin bed. He doesn't have his slide attached to his bed anymore. Being this is the 2nd day of no slide -- he has said he really liked his new bed. Even told our waitress at Hudson's Smokehouse that he got a new bed. So, I guess he really does like it! This is the transitioning part for him. We want to get him acclimated to his new room setup before his little brother arrives next month. I must say, he has adjusted to this pretty well. The other thing I did was get the laundry room/craft room/scrap booking closet organized. I'm going on another crop this coming weekend and need to get my stuff organized. Still working on Evan's ABC album and plan to give it to him when we're at the hospital. It'll be a little gift to him from me. I need to get cranking. I'm only on the letter J.

As I type this - Cy is down in the basement messing with our new wood burning furnace he installed. Wait, wait -- I take that back - he was outside chopping wood or getting more wood for the furnace. He has literally worked on it all day today. From the time we got home from church this morning till now. He's been non-stop. We are hoping this will bring our electric bill down, down, down. I took some pictures, but will post them tomorrow. Forgot my usb cord at work.

Well, now I hear him in the kitchen - better go check on him. He's starting to dwindle down and that means cuddle time on the couch with him. :)

Gute Nacht!