Good Transitions

The last couple of weeks have brought with them some good transitions for our family. Now I will be the first to admit that I'm not always the best at dealing with change, but what I've learned in my almost 34 years of life is that sometimes what you think might be a rough transition turns magically into a smooth and wonderful transition.

For example, take our decision to move the two boys into the same bedroom. We had planned to do this all along, but took the big leap at a time when we were frustrated with sleep issues and preparing for some house guests. Maybe this didn't seem like the best time to try this new set up, but my intuition told me to take the leap and boy am I glad that I listened. Ever since the original night that they slept together, we have been sleeping great here in the Fisher house. Now after a few weeks of this arrangement both boys go to sleep in the most gentle and peaceful way that I could ever wish for. I have never let them CIO (cry it out) and I am so happy that they are now safely sleeping together in their own room.




Originally we just slapped Curtis' mattress on the floor in Clark's room because we had limited time before our house guests arrived. This weekend we measured and moved and yes, dropped a dresser on my toe, as we set this wonderful room up for the boys. Bloody toe aside, I couldn't be happier with the look of the room. There is still work to do in the other bedroom which I am happy to announce will soon be our guest/craft/office room. I will finally get my husband's office out of my bedroom and be able to move my sewing machine off the dining room table! I am so excited to be able to lay out a bunch of craft supplies and be able to walk away mid project without having to put everything away. I am equally excited to get the files and computer and business phone out of my bedroom and away from the place where I relax and replenish my soul each night.



The other major transition has been school! Yes, school is already back in session down here and we have been lucky again this year. There was very little stress involved in this transition as well because the school Curtis is attending this year is the same one he attended last year with the same teachers and even some of the same students. Curtis loves the Complete Soccer Academy and I have already noticed a change in his attitude after only a week back.

It is also amazing to me how much I enjoy those few hours of alone time with Clark three days a week. Sometimes I forget that I never got the kind of one on one time with Clark that I did for the first two and a half years of Curtis' life. Spending the mornings with just him is so different than when Curtis is around and I'm really grateful that both boys get what they need from this arrangement.

So I guess the lesson in all of this is that I should never fear change or transitions because they are often times smooth and gentle and leave me in a situation even better than where I was in the first place
(especially when I listen to my intuition).

Check out these cool bikes!

I'm so going to win one!

Where have I been?

All over the place really. See my Mom came down to visit us! It was great and I had fun playing tourist and showing her around. We don't do all the regular Orlando touristy things like theme parks and such. We have way more fun doing more outdoorsy things. My Mom is just like the boys and I (or I should say we are like her) because she loves being in nature too!



We went to Kelly Park and played in Rock Springs. It is so nice there, but the Springs are pretty cold at only around 70 degrees year round. The swimming area has a shallow area which is perfect for the boys and they also had fun playing on the beach area too. Curtis played with the cool boat Grandmom brought down for the boys and we all went for a nice picnic and hike where we saw caves and turtles and fish and streams.






Clark also had lots of fun reading in bed with Grandmom when she visited. He has recently begun to love reading books. See before the visit we switched things around and now the boys share a bedroom and we use the other room as a guest room and soon we will move my husband's office in there and my sewing machine too. I can't tell you how happy I'll be to have my husband's office out of my bedroom and also to have an area to do crafts. It's been an amazing transition since the boys now both go to bed so easily and sleep through the night with no problems at all. It so warms my heart to see them both so cute and cuddled up sleeping next to each other in the same room.



Grandmom also helped us bake cookies. We used two of the recipes she passed down to us that we love and naturally Curtis was happy to help clean up.



And finally, here is a shot of them at the beach. This was one of the best beach trips this summer. The forecast was bad but we went anyway and had the best weather. We both commented on how hard it was to leave that afternoon. It was such a relaxed trip. We threw some towels and sandwiches and toys in the car and took off. The weather was glorious and I couldn't have asked for a better visit with my Mom.

Unfortunately she is back up north now, but Curtis has asked almost daily since she left when we are going to visit her, so it shouldn't be long before we see her again, and this time maybe she'll be taking us site seeing!

Tough Love

We've been experiencing some moments of tough love around here lately. Who would've known that our folks were right back when they said it was harder on them then it was on us. It took a husband, two kids, and a mortgage before I could really understand my parents and trust me, I'm not sure how they did it with three of us without going completely insane.

One thing I know is that it is my job to teach my sons how to respect others. It's amazing how these little beings come into our lives, such blank slates, and end up teaching us more about ourselves then we could ever imagine knowing. My sons have been really sending me to school lately with lessons on self respect and confidence. That's right, it takes a 4 year old with an attitude and a 1 year old learning about independence to teach me how to respect myself. Through their button pushing, stalling, and down right defiance I have been forced to acknowledge my own self confidence levels. Do I deserve to be bossed around by a 1 year old tyrant or a 4 year old despot? Do I deserve to be listened to (within reason) as if I matter beyond just clothes washer and food preparer? Do I deserve a moment of time to myself after hours at a park or event for the kids?

Well, folks, my answer to these questions is finally a resounding Yes!

I'll admit that my family goes through cycles of disrespect and that I am as guilty as the rest of them. It is with all of this knowledge that I have set a new intention for my family to express our respect for each other every day in every way possible. I mean, sometimes it's just the small things that do it for me. Think of the times your significant other has tip toed out of the bedroom to give you an extra few minutes of sleep, or the kids have given you a spontaneous bear hug, or the times when your whole family finds themselves laughing and dancing in the kitchen after dinner for no reason what so ever. These are the moments in life that I am cherishing right now. These are the moments that I am trying not to let slide by while I am distracted by the TV or paper or internet or my own mind. These moments are the true purpose of my life right now.

It really is amazing to me how much I love these two kids. Sometimes I look at them and am just blown away by the fact that I have two sons! But here's the hitch, the fact that I love them forces me to sometimes put us all through some pretty uncomfortable emotions. If I don't have enough self respect for myself and love for them to gently teach them how to respectfully treat those around them, who will? The last thing I want to do is send my boys out into the world under equipped for dealing with social interactions in a respectful and peaceful manner.

So yes, there has been some serious boundary re fortification around here lately and while it is really uncomfortable at the time, I am holding strong to the belief that teaching my children to respect others is an important lessons and that they will be better people for it.

Making Playdough

Yesterday afternoon, while Clark napped and the afternoon rains came, Curtis and I got bored. He wanted to make a craft but gave me a "no" to all my old standbys. So I had a light bulb pop over my head as I remembered the homemade playdough recipe that I had. It's the same recipe we used in my house when I was a child and it is very quick and easy. Basically you throw the ingredients into a pot and stir it over medium heat until it forms a ball. The fun part about making it with a preschooler is that he first gets to choose whatever color he wants and help stir before playing away the afternoon creating until his heart is contented.



Curtis decided to make blue playdough and had lots of fun stirring it on the stove.



He took this photo of me helping to stir once it got pretty stiff.



First he made some garages while I made cars to go in them. This is a reoccurring theme in our play now-a-days. He is such a boy, always focused on the garage and what goes in it.



Here he is with the alligator we made together.



And of course once Clark woke from his nap he had to get in on the fun too.

I would recommend this craft to any parent of a preschool looking for something cheap, easy, and fun to make on a rainy day. We have it now stored in a zip top bag and have already pulled it out a couple times since yesterday afternoon. Curtis was so proud of himself for making it that he has told almost everybody he has seen since, so it is also a wonderful and simple way to boost a little guy's confidence.

Playdough

Combine 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup salt, 2 tsp cream of tartar, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, and 1 cup water (with 10 drops of food color added if you choose to color the dough) in a medium pot. Stir over medium heat until it forms a ball. Remove from heat and let sit until cool enough to play with.

Learning to help others

Our church is doing a school supply drive for the homeless children in Seminole County. I decided this would be a good chance to teach Curtis about the value in helping those less fortunate than us. We went shopping for a backpack and filled it with school supplies and the church will be giving it to a homeless child from the county.



I decided to pick out all girl stuff since I won't really get much of a chance to do that in the future. Curtis really liked picking out the folders and pens to fill the pack up with. I tried to discuss the importance of helping others while we filled the pack, and I'm not sure if he's too young for this lesson or not, but you gotta start somewhere, right?



Clark tried to help out too, in his own way.

Curtis moved to level 2

Curtis has been taking swim lessons at our city pool for two summers now. Since we don't have a pool ourselves (yet?) he doesn't get much chance to practice so he's been repeating level one over and over. Well, on friday we celebrated his graduating to level 2 finally. He was very proud and excited to get to level two where, as he put it, "we have to swim harder".




Here he is on the first day of class in level 2.



He loves bobbing on the side of the pool waiting for his turn to swim.



And here he is learning to swim!

Sunday Mornings

I've had a couple crazy weeks in a row so I thought a nice post about my favorite morning might be a pleasant change of pace.

We have recently started a new tradition where we go to church Saturday evening at 5pm and then go out to eat afterward. I've fixed my budget so that we can afford to eat out or get take out once a week and this works out well after church on Saturday. I really look forward to the one night off from cooking and cleaning and the kids love the change of pace. Curt usually takes this as his opportunity to eat red meat since I rarely cook that at home. So it's a win/win/win/win situation. It's never anything fancy, but even a Costco pizza eaten together at the park is a nice change of pace for all of us.

So, this leaves Sunday mornings as our free time on the weekends. It's so nice to wake up and lounge around in PJs watching TV and flipping through the paper with my family. Sometimes I might get up and make some special pancakes and sometimes we all might just snack on cold cereal, but we do it together and that's the main joy.

Nothing makes me happier than enjoying a nice cup of tea while my boys play quietly on the floor in their own imaginary worlds.





Sometimes Curtis might take a break from the elaborate car chase he is staging to check out a show on TV.



And finally we break out the big Sunday paper and divide it up. Curt goes straight to the sports section, even though he finds baseball season disappointing. I sort through the mountains of coupons, always on the look out for a way to save another buck. And the boys huddle together over the most recent Toys R Us catalog, listing out loud all the toys that they want from Santa this year.



A relaxing Sunday morning at home with my family is sometimes just what the doctor ordered. It reminds me that what is really important in this life is not what kind of car I drive or what name brand my clothes are or what other people may think of me. The most important thing in my life is my family and I have been blessed with such a wonderful one that I can't think of a better way to spend Sunday morning.

Want to Know What's Amazing?

It's amazing what you can do with yourself when you are not obsessing over Facebook. I've recently taken a 'break' from facebook and while I was afraid I would go into serious withdraw, the reality has been that I've been feeling truly happy and free and living life. The irony is that I have my blog set up to update my facebook account automatically so some people may actually be reading this on facebook.

Recently, you see, my life went a touch topsy turvy. In hind sight I could totally see where it had all been building for a while, but of course in the throes it always seems so shocking when life changes out from under you. I took a long hard look at things and couldn't for the life of me figure out why I was continuing to invite things that mostly brought negativity into my life. So I decided the first step was to stop looking at facebook cold turkey.

I picked facebook because it seemed to be only adding to the stress in my life. Plus it had become an obvious time sucking obsession with me. I kind of anticipated it being hard to stop, but was really surprised by how wonderful it's been. Suddenly I feel like I just quit some kind of part time job where I felt the need to constantly read status updates from people I may or may not know very well at all.

So I've made a decision to do more living of life and I really like the idea of being constructive with my time right now. I've been feeling a pull to get out the old sewing machine for a while now and this seemed like the perfect time. I have some really cute ideas for things I'd like to sew that are just beyond my skill level, so I've challenged myself to make as many easy projects in the next 3 months as I possibly can with the goal being that 'practice makes perfect' and I will thus improve to the level I wish to be at.

All of this coincided well with a little girl's 5th birthday party in which we were invited. Since we are presently on a spending freeze due to the financial month from hell in June (doc bills out the wa-zoo), I turned to my fabric stash and my trusty bag tutorial to make this cute little tote for her.



It turned out ok for a rusty novice sewer. I painted her initial on the pocket and used some rick-rack from my stash for the straps and embellishment.



After that I got an idea for different pockets and decided to wing it. I think this one turned out ok for a novice sewer making it up as she went. I once again used scrap fabric and notions. While there are a few imperfections, I'm not going to beat myself up since it was made with practice in mind.



As it turns out, it is the prefect tote for carrying around a certain 4 year old's Bakugan collection. He has also now placed an order for a replica of Diego's Rescue Pack. I'll have to think on that one....

Seasons of Life

"To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn..."

This song has been spinning in my head the past day or so, and really the sentiment has been in my subconscious for much longer. What if I could look at life as if it was a big collection of seasons? Perhaps when a part of your life changes or you lose something dear to you it is actually a natural cycle passing through and leading you onto better things. I wonder why we, as humans, are sometimes very shaken by any change in our lives. I also wonder why we are so quick and easy to remember how we have been hurt by others and yet seem oblivious to how we have hurt others. Human nature confuses my logical mind and it seems especially stressful during these times of change.

I've spent a good portion of my life feeling such intense sadness due to 'endings'. When school was over, or the summer was over, or Christmas was over, or a friend moved away, or I moved away...and so on and so forth. Even the smallest endings like those of a beloved tv show going off the air could send my childhood self into nights of fitful sleep and days filled trying to conceal my quiet sobbing. I believe the pain comes from some very subconscious self-love issues I have surrounding the possibility of being rejected. I spent the greater portion of my life wishing I was someone very different than I am and after reading A New Earth last year I finally began my journey towards understanding how to embrace authenticity. Maybe it's time to dust it off and re-read it again.

I certainly am not going to say it's been an easy journey or even that I am anywhere near the end (or even the middle for that matter), but it is a journey I am very happy to be on. In my present life when I'm faced with change I try to remind myself, while acknowledging the emotions, that in the end of every season comes the beginning of another. Sure I like Spring a lot more than Winter, but without Winter I'm not sure I'd know how much I love Spring.

For several years in my late teens and early twenties I unconsciously decided to take the easy way out. It was much easier to use escapism to hide from my lack of self love or even self respect at the time. I embraced escape readily at the time whether through drinking, partying, boyfriends, school, or even, at times, sleep. As you can probably guess this didn't really help me progress in my quest for self love. In fact I eventually found myself in the ICU with the lowest self esteem I had ever experienced. After three days of blood transfusions and liquid diet I was sent back out into the world with a new goal. I think it was this pivotal experience in my life which taught me that a lot of the things that I want in my life might take hard work and even suffering.

It started out rocky, and I am always the first to admit that I am far from perfect, but here I am 9+ years later a much healthier women with a wonderful husband, children, and family life. I am thankful beyond belief to God for looking out for me throughout those "lost years" and getting me to the point that I am at today. And yet, still those old thoughts creep back in, and especially in the times of life's seasonal changes. I begin to hear the tiny voice in my head that says that "they deserve better" or that "they'd be better off without me", or that "I am a horrible friend/wife/mother/daughter/sister/niece/neighbor/fill in the title". I've learned several constructive methods for dealing with these times in my life, but I personally believe that there is no perfect and thus there is always room for improvement, so I keep trying. Ever since that time in my life I have always tried to strive for progress in my life and lots of times it takes writing things out like this for me to really be able to see things clearly. I would really like to write my thoughts like this more often, because it really does bring me closer to clarity.

I feel like I am now embarking on the beginning of a new season in my life which may involve professional help, metaphysical help, the support of true friends and most definitely a good bit of introspection and quiet meditation. I face this time with both sadness and excitement and hope that I am blogging in the near future about all of the wonderful progress I've made.

Part Two ; My boy wears a patch

Here is what he looks like now for 6 hours every afternoon. I'm not going to say it hasn't been a struggle.

It turns out that one of Curtis' eyes is much stronger than the other. In fact, the weaker of the two even 'wanders' on occasion. Because of this we need to cover the better of the two eyes thus forcing the weak eye to work and build the muscles bigger.

It's hard for him because he is stuck using a very blurry very weak eye. It's hard for me because I hate to see his beautiful face covered by this patch and the glasses. I just want to rip it off and hold him and protect him from all the things that hurt, but I know that this patch is what he needs. If he was to skip wearing the patch he would continue to favor the other eye to the point where the weak eye would eventually become usless and possibly even cross in completely.

So you can see why it is very important for him to wear his patch each afternoon, but I'm sure you can also see why it is not a fun transition for him and for us as his parents. We are keeping a sticker reward chart and trying our darndest to make it fun and put a positive spin on it, but I'd be lying if I told you I'm not hoping beyond hope that when we go back in September that they tell us it has healed and that we can go down to maybe 2 hours a day instead of 6.

On top of it all you might be able to see his fat lip in this photo too. Poor guy can't catch a break. While playing at the playground on a balance beam while wearing the patch he fell and busted his lip pretty badly. The lesson learned here was, no balancing activities while wearing the patch.

Tae Kwon Do

We recently won a free week of Karate Camp and decided to take advantage of it now while Curtis is taking a break from swim lessons. Unfortunately he had to have a little procedure done on a plantars wart on his foot and had to sit out these next three weeks of swim lessons. The fortunate part is that we got to cash in the free week of camp.




It's been an interesting time. There is a wide mix of ages at this camp and he seemed very shy the first day, but warmed up today.



Today he came home showing me the blocks that he learned and talking about a new friend he made, so that helps my heart a little.




My poor boy has gone through so much this summer already with the glasses, eye patch, foot procedure, that I really am struggling to see him process all of this. I am still hoping that he will grow to like the camp even more tomorrow and we will even consider signing him up for classes if he desires. Mostly I just want him to have a little fun outlet for the emotions that go along with all of these transitions this summer.

My boy has glasses

So the only bit of excitement we've had around here lately has been medical, unfortunately. The first bit of excitement was a shocking visit to the eye doctor. As it turns out, to our surprise, my boy has pretty poor vision. We were shocked because neither Curt nor I need glasses.



As you can see he looks pretty cute in the Spongebob bikini bottom blue glasses he picked out. I, as his mother, am still getting used to the change. It is pretty crazy how a pair of glasses can change the way a little boy looks.



He has taken to wearing them pretty well. At first he threw a small fit, but I think once he figured out that they actually helped him see he was really ok with them. I looked through them and can't believe he can see through them, but I guess that's because I don't need them, right?



So this may seem like the happy ending to the story of a boy and his glasses, but it is not. Please stay tuned for the next part of this story, which will be called My boy wears a patch.

Recycled Crayons

So, as I said, there have been some periods of boredom over the past week or two. I made a list of things to keep us happy, which we ended up going through pretty quickly.



One of the things on the list was making recycled crayons.



We took our big bin of crayons and went through and found the old nibs and nubs. We took the paper off and broke them into pieces before putting them into my silicon tray.



You put them in a low heat oven for about 20 mins until they are melted and then you let them cool.



They make pretty cool rainbowish crayons in whatever shape you put them in. It was fun, but, it didn't take up that much time and it didn't really occupy the boy as much as it did me. Guess we'll have to start brainstorming for more kid intensive indoor activities and crafts.

We've been kind of bored (in between freaking out)

These pictures were taken at a time when I had no idea how ironic it would be that we were goofing off with play glasses....

Happy Father's Day Crafting!

Curtis and Clark decided to make their father a craft for a father's day gift. I got the idea to make these rocks. I actually wanted to get one big rock and put their hand prints on it for the garden, but they only had these smaller rocks at the Home Depot and I didn't have enough time or energy to look elsewhere. The good news is that the manager at the Home Depot saw an opened bag of rocks and let me take two out of there for free instead of having to buy a whole bag.









As you can see the boys had fun painting and making a big mess. They went straight into the bath after this adventure and I spent a good 20 minutes cleaning up the porch. These photos show up pretty dark because while we were painting them there was a wicked storm ending outside.



And here is the final product. I did the lettering (obviously) but the rest was all their work.

Summer Burn Out

I'm sorry I haven't blogged much lately. It seems that I was so worried about being bored this summer that I actually over scheduled us. We have been headed quickly towards summer burn out and I'm trying to scale back right now so that doesn't happen.

One of the things Curtis has been really enjoying this summer so far is the Leapster we bought him as an end of the school year gift. He did so well in school last year that we decided to get him this hand held game, but I'll be honest and tell you the truth is I wanted him to have it to keep him happy on car rides to the beach and rainy afternoons stuck inside. It really works too as you can see.



Curtis really loves our cat a lot and I'm super thankful he didn't inherit my allergy. Check out how sun bleached his hair is after only 2 weeks of summer!



Here he is showing his new game to his two buddies. Don't they look cute there huddled together? I can't believe how quickly he is growing up!

So I might not be blogging as much as I did during the school year, but I promise to check in every once and a while to show you the fun we're having.

More Girl Babies!

I've been invited to a slew of baby showers recently and they've all been for baby girls! I'll be the first to admit that it is much more fun to craft for baby girls than it is for baby boys. I always have a hard time figuring out what to crochet, knit, sew, etc for boys for some reason.

Here is the baby afghan I made for my friend who is due in August. It was pretty easy but I had fun making a cute pink strip on this.






The mama-to-be seemed really happy with it and I'm sure little baby Elora will be rolling around on it sometime this fall.

A List

I'm making this list for myself and for my friends and family. Around the house, in my daily life, I come upon things my boys need every once and a while and yet when I'm at the store and/or people ask me what the boys need for a gift I can never think of anything. So here is a list, which I may expand on, so that I can keep it all in one place.

* twin sheet sets in solids colors
* pajamas size 18 months; short sleeve top and long bottoms
* pajamas size 4T or 5T; short sleeve tops and short bottoms
* boys underpants size 5T
* boys t-shirts size 24 months
* boys shorts size 18 months
check * swim float vest size 24 months
* games for the Leapster besides Go Diego Go!(Curtis' graduation present)
* book of easy mazes
* sandals or water shoes size 6
* socks for a size 10 boy shoe

No More Training Wheels

Today my husband got the big idea that it was time for Curtis to get rid of his training wheels. I was amazed that after only three tries he was riding! By the end he was going out doing a U turn and coming back...all within 45 minutes of taking them off! He is an amazing kid and I am sentimental now because he's really growing up. Here are some still shots and a video so you can celebrate with us.




So I just looked again and realized I've lived in the south too long. I sound like a total redneck in this video! Oh the horror!