Recovery

Whew.... the holiday's sure can wear a Mommy out. The week before Christmas I was busy working long days while trying to remember if I had everything I needed for the big day. After plenty of last minute trips to the store we officially had everything we needed, and more. It really is amazing how much extra money you can spend during the holidays, it's as if once the Christmas spirit grabs you, you could give all day long. I was excited to see how little Max would react to Christmas this year, last year he had no idea what we were all doing, but this year I knew it would be different. He caught on very quickly that there was cool stuff inside all of those wrapped gifts, and un wrapped and played like a little trooper. He even clapped once all of his presents were un wrapped, as if to congratulate us on our choices. I would say Christmas was a huge success, even though after a busy day when we asked Max if he loved Christmas he said "no mom" I let this one slide since his new favorite phrase just happens to be "no mom" I know he had fun, and is still having fun with more toys than he needs, but is sure happy to have. After Christmas I was quick to take down all the decorations that just three weeks ago I was so excited to put up, but once it is over my spirit is gone and I want my living room back. I wrestle with the tree to get the Christmas lights off and my hubby takes it to the back yard, I am just hoping I got all the ornaments off....  but with a "unique" tree like I had it would be hard to miss them, there were plenty of holes to see through. After cleaning up pine needles for the thousandth time I decided I will return to a fake tree next year, I think, that's where I am with it right now anyway. My living room looks huge, and most of the presents have found a new home, now I just have to get me back on track. I need to get back to the gym, and back into a daily routine. Maybe that can wait until after the new year..... I need something to be my new year's resolution right? Now it is time to plan our little Winter Park getaway, which is where we have decided to bring in the new year, sounds good to me! A nice soak in the hot springs will wash away all of that holiday stress, I hope.


Kelly Callahan

The Haircut

This week has flown by, between work, my birthday{yay} and play dates I am in shock that tomorrow is Friday. Today was an especially amusing day, so I decided to share. Max had his little buddy Dylan over to play {or maybe I had his Mom over to talk...} either way the boys were running around the house like mad men playing with every toy they could find. We tried to keep their focus on one thing, like building a Lego tower, or setting up all the cars on the pretend streets. But, nothing seemed to hold their attention. We were fine with that, it is always good to deal with our crazy boys together and we were happy to have our on and off again conversation. As we were looking through a cookie book to plan a day of baking we should've noticed that the boys were being a little too quiet, but we didn't, we just kept talking and planning away. After a little while the boys came up and we headed downstairs to see the mess they had made. Nothing looked too bad, then we saw the bottle. Max was drinking juice from a bottle and now the top of the nipple seemed to have disappeared.... as we looked at it we knew only scissors could have done this. Sure enough, in a little medical baby kit that I had bought when Max was first born there was a little pair of safety scissors, how Dylan found this I will never know {they were calling his name} We let Dylan know that we don't play with scissors and quickly move on.We finish cleaning up the toys and say goodbye to our friends. Max sits down to watch a show and I start dinner....then Daddy comes home and is wondering what is all over Max's sweatshirt....looks like hair..... uh-oh.... looks like Dylan cut Max's hair.....wow, how did I not see this before. I really need to look more closely at my child, because this was pretty obvious{okay REALLY obvious}, and I was totally oblivious to it. As we look closer there are a ton of bald spots all over his head. I call my friend to let her know and we both get a good laugh out of it, she says sorry, which isn't necessary, since I apparently provided the scissors. I guess from now on I need to work on my child proofing skills. I had forgotten about the set, and was totally un aware that it came with scissors, I figured it just had a baby brush and a boogie sucker {you know what I mean} but no, I left scissors in my child's room, way to go mom. After a buzz cut and a shower we are back to normal, just with a little less hair, but hair grows back. I figure we all learn lessons everyday and today I learned to pay more attention.... bad,bad mommy.

Kelly Callahan

My New Tree

For as long as I can remember the day after Thanksgiving was the day we brought out the big boxes. Were these presents or treats? No, it was our tree. Now our tree did not look too glamorous in its box, but as soon as you matched up all the colors and spread the branches about a thousand times you ended up with a perfect little pine tree. Now, I have realized that not all trees are created equal, and apparently a lot of people already know this. My employer was nice enough to get me a fresh tree from the mountains. I don't really know what was in my head {most likely it looked a lot like my perfectly shaped fake tree} but lets just say the tree did not match my mental picture. The funny thing? People made comments to me about how great of a tree this was,how hard it was to find one "like this",  so I took it home to set it up. Turns out trees don't grow perfectly straight, or perfectly shaped {go figure} It took us about an hour just to get the tree to look somewhat straight{ did I mention I don't get home from work until 9pm?}. I then did my best to wrap around the lights and hung a few ornaments. I figured I would leave the rest until the next morning since it was getting late. As I came upstairs the next morning I saw a sad sight, my poor tree was slumped against the wall, all that hard work and the damn thing didn't even want to be kinda straight. I mess around with it for awhile and finally get it back to how it was {I think} I finish putting on the ornaments  and take a look. I think this tree will grow on me. No it is not the perfect shape, no it is not lush and full, but it is fresh and made by nature, it is unique. Yes, unique is the perfect word. Let's just hope this unique tree decides to stay in place this time. I really don't feel like setting up a tree everyday. We'll have to wait and see if this fresh tree will change my mind and have me searching the mountains for a perfect tree next year, or will I be searching the after Christmas clearance for a nice lush, perfectly shaped tree in a box? Only time will tell.

Kelly Callahan

Not My Day...actually...Not my Week

This week has been kicking my butt. It seems between my new job and my toddler who has entered the terrible two's I have been exhausted. It is crazy how adding more hours at work and a new attitude from my little man can throw me for such a loop.  I feel like everything I need to do in a day is a new challenge. Just running to the store for milk can take an hour,an hour that I feel like I don't have. I try to squeeze so much into a day that I feel like there is no way to catch up. I am sure this will change....I hope so anyway. And not only did I have my normal "challenges" this week, I also got a sick hubby, and a sick Little man. Cleaning up throw up and dealing with some crazy fussiness {from both hubby and toddler} can be very exhausting. I also had to miss a day of work, which I am not happy about. I have only been back to work for three weeks with this family and I already had to take a day off...not good.  At least it is Friday. I just have to make it through today and then I have two days to relax....wait, no I have two days to catch up, I need to do everything I didn't have time to do this week, or just put off doing. Today was filled with laundry, the really fun kind, the kind you get to do after a day of a toddler throwing up. My morning was consumed with cleaning and it is now almost time to head to work. I will most likely be home at 9pm, which won't give me much time {or leftover energy} to accomplish too much. We'll see if I can get better at doing it all, it has to be possible, right? Be a good mom, good wife, good employee, good cook, good cleaner, every freakin day......I can do it, if there's a will there's a way.

Kelly Callahan

A Snowy Day

You would think on a snowy day I would be relaxing with some hot cocoa and baking cookies....nope, not today. It all started out fine, a lazy morning of cartoons and toast, but then the first bad news call came. My hubby is coming home sick, he feels horrible. Then as I was cleaning the house my little man starts throwing up all over the carpet, I feel horrible for him, but also for me{I have to clean all this up} I cover the couch with old towels {I never knew why my Mom never threw away towels until I had a child} and I make a comfy spot for my little man to rest, what does he do? He starts jumping on the couch, somehow excited by the towels that are now covering it. I do my best to make him sit still, Bubble Guppies finally does the trick. I get to work cleaning up the mess....yuck. Did I mention that there was some throw up that I did not notice on the kitchen floor that I proceeded to slip on and fall on my butt as I hurried for towels?{that was fun} I then call my boss to give her a heads up that we may not be coming in today, she happened to be with her Niece, who would love to watch Hannah, so that problem solved itself. I then call my friend to tell her we could NOT go out to lunch. Now the challenge is to make my little man rest, he seems un- phased by his throwing up, but I'm not, I want him to relax {not a word in a two year olds vocabulary.} I am hoping there is no more throwing up today, but I have prepared myself for the worst. We'll just have to see how it turns out. As I watch the snow pile up outside I am happy that we do not have to drive to work, yet I would much rather go to work than have a sick child. I guess I will just have to make myself relax, maybe I'll have that hot cocoa{but with a hint of Kahlua}. I just want everyone healthy, we have some fun stuff coming up {most importantly my Birthday :)} And we do not need any germs around to ruin our plans. Here's hoping for a relaxing day with no more "messes"

Kelly Callahan