Tuesday, January 15, 2013

one of my finer parenting moments

Oliver has been playing "party" the last couple weeks. Like, he'll jump around and say it's a dance party, or he'll get up on our bed and have a party and say the pillows are the cake and presents.

We have a lot of pillows.

So the other day he was playing in our room and found a bag of decorations and supplies from his birthday party.

Yes, I'm very organized.

So he pulls out this roll of ribbon and says, "What is this? Can I play with it?"

Decision time. Do I let him unravel it and get it all tangled up or do I take it away and try some distraction when he (inevitably) gets pissed?






We had a party. I helped with the decorations & the cupcakes were delicious.

Friday, January 11, 2013

this morning

Oliver woke up at 6:40 a.m.

He yelled "Mama!"

I said "Hi buddy, are you awake?"

He said "Yes mama, can I get out of bed?"

(I'm guessing he didn't know if it was morning or night.)

He decided to hang out in my bed while I showered.

I came back in the room. He told me, "don't forget to blow dry your hair!"

(I don't know.)

Then after we picked out his shirt, I offered  him two stickers to get dressed all by himself.

I went in the kitchen to get his milk and my coffee.

After a few minutes he came running in, "wook, mama! I did it!"

"I'm so proud of you, buddy!"

He got back in the big bed while I finished getting ready.

I heard his voice from down the hall... and when I got back to my bedroom he said, "MOM. You gave me a lid that sounds like a bear when I drink."

(I have no idea.)

I was super glad to have some laughs with my boy before work.

Happy Friday!

Friday, January 4, 2013

quickly and simply

The Panzas have decided to lay off of fast food for the entire month of January.

I'm looking forward to it! We did it last January and it was great. It's a little difficult at first, because I have a serious love affair with pizza. But! it's great for the bank account, not to mention our health. Plus, it comes at a good time... with all the junk food we ate over the holidays... not to mention all the money spent around the holidays... So I'm laying off the McDonald's (ta-ta, Peppermint Mocha) and Nick's turning down the lunchtime trips to Subway.

Unfortunately, our habit affects dinner too... and Ollie's gotten used to getting a toy with his chickens and french fries as part of our normal grocery shopping routine. Yet another reason to knock it off. Usually every other week, the routine is for me to pick up the guys and run over to Burger King or Wendy's and grab some food before hitting the store. While not shopping on an empty stomach is good... and dinner out can make for a less stressful evening... we're making an effort to work around that.

Nick's going to try out doing the shopping before I get home from work. And if that doesn't work out well, we can always eat quickly at home or even go on the weekend, I guess. We like avoiding the weekend when possible, not only because there are more people to contend with, but junk like grocery shopping and cleaning cut into our precious family time.

Don't even get me started on the cleaning. Dang dog hair.

Anyhow, that's not a New Year's resolution, it's just something we're doing starting January 1. Ending January 31.

See, my real resolution is to be on time for work. Like, be at my desk by 8:05. Mostly because I just hate making Oliver rush around in the morning. Sweet boy likes to sleep as much as I do, and I don't want my childish inability to get my ass out of bed to affect him. So, I'm trying to grow up. Ha!

Especially since the end of 2012 was so dang nutty... at once happier and sadder than ever... it's time to streamline, clean up, simplify, and start over. I like 2013 already.