I started working at this company just in time to get invited to the family picnic. I was the only one with kids under 14, so that made everything a little more...entertaining?

Megan had a blast! She swam, swam, swam, went down the slide, and even jumped off the diving board. Connor was busy being passed around the group.

You might have to squint to find Megan on the diving board, but I was like a football field distance away, using my zoom lens.





Megan played football catch and splashing games with my extremely cool boss, Chris.



Daddy went down the trapeze swing.

I had the opportunity to work an extra day this week, so I had decided that I would work today. UNTIL...Megan had some serious behavior issues last night. Serious. I mean, topped the charts. I won't go into with you, but it was enough to raise both Daddy's and my eyebrows. After she finally went to bed, Daddy and I decided that instead of going to work, I would really concentrate on her and have "Megan Day" today. Daddy had to use a vacation day this week at work, so it happened to work out that he would keep Connor company.

As soon as she got up, I broke the news to her that we would do whatever she wanted to do all day long. First thing she said was, "Then, I want a piece of candy!" and gave me a look of doubt. Even though it was before breakfast, she got candy. I passed the first test.

She finally caught on and made her requests. We went swimming, out to lunch at her choice of restaurants (Rosa's), and got our haircut at Susan's today. She told Susan that she wanted a haircut "just like Mom's". It's shoulder length! She wouldn't let me take a picture of it tonight, so I'll have to try again tomorrow.





We talked quite a bit and got some things worked out between us. I'm glad I didn't go into work...it was well worth the day. Thanks, Daddy, for using your vacation day to hang out with Connor. :)

The boy loves his bath.



This is his newest trick (it takes him a while...):

Today is Connor's half birthday. He's 6 months old already! Holy smokes.

Daddy took him to his 6 month check-up today. He weighed a whopping 18 lbs 10 oz (75th percentile) and is 27 3/4 inches long (90th percentile). He was pronounced "great" and then he received 3 shots, including a flu shot already.

Some of the things he does:
blows spit bubbles (raspberries)
sits up unassisted
rocks back and forth on all fours - tummy off the ground - and crawls a little bit (mostly scoots)
drools like a fountain
babbles consonants - b's and p's seem to be his favorite
"drinks" from a cup
rocks back into a sitting position from a crawling position
recognizes his name
sleeps through the night
plays with toys
grabs Megan's hair (and really freaks her out by drooling on it - HA!)
expresses extreme emotions - laughs hysterically; cries hysterically

He is SUCH a good baby. It really takes a lot to get him cranky, but boy when he gets cranky it can get ugly fast. He lights up when Daddy, Megan, or I walk in the room. He LOVES his big sister and really likes to play with her. Likewise, she is very concerned with being right there in front of him "helping" him - even if he doesn't really need it. I just can't believe how quickly they are both growing and learning!

We're lucky to have some pretty great people in our neighborhood. Last night we had a cookout/party down the street. They had a big blow up slide/pool, and Megan could not get enough of it. She was out there for about 4 hours. I went out there once just to tell her there was food, and she got all upset thinking she had to leave. She said it was okay if I left, but she could stay there to play...someone would walk her home. HA!





While that was really fun, she told me that her favorite part of the night was "gettin' to play poker with Justin", who is her next door neighbor buddy (even though he is a Sox fan).

Connor kept grabbing at our drinks, so I was curious to see if he actually knew what to do with a cup. He did.



Someone (or multiple people) please remind me about sippy cups and finger foods. When? I've kinda forgotten...

Last night Aunt Kelly hosted a tie-dye back to school party. We ate pizza and dyed shirts, skirts, and undies. It was SO fun. The adults did most of the work because well, who wants 6 kids under 6 playing in the dye??? We did let them pick the colors, of course, and help rinse out. I think they also enjoyed getting to run around together.



Megan left with a shirt, a skirt, and undies. Connor left with a long-sleeve onesie - decoration courtesy of Gran. :) Everything looked great!

I'm not sure what's the cause of all this seriousness...


The finished products:



Thanks, Aunt Kelly!

First of all, my most sincere apologies to everyone - mostly Double G - that I haven't posted much this week. But seriously, you would fall asleep from boredom if I blogged about my working days. I feel like we just repeat the same day over and over again, and it's really not worth blogging about boring stuff. Work is going great, by the way.

Anyway, Kati and Ryan took us to the Rangers game tonight. Thank you!





It was Connor's first baseball game. He did remarkably well for having his schedule all out of whack. For those of you who haven't been around Connor at 8:30 p.m., he turns into a pumpkin...a screaming, wailing pumpkin who wants to go to sleep. It makes it hard to take him anywhere past 7 p.m., so I was a little worried about tonight. He was doing just great until Marlon Byrd made a fan-freakin'-tastic catch right in front of us in left field. The crowd went nuts, and so did Connor.



Megan and I shared a "Hambino" sandwich. Two thumbs up.



We went down to (bother) sit with Gran, Papa, and their friends. Connor was just about done with the whole thing. We managed to stay through 7 innings. It was a great game!

Thanks to Aunt Krissa, our family is now complete. Hmmm...you wondering how that makes sense? During a vacation in Utah a few years ago, we found a cute rod iron stick figure family. We bought the dad, mom, and "Megan". We didn't hang them up because not too long after that we found out we were going to have another kiddo. It really, really bothered Megan that "Connor was missing" and that he wasn't part of our family up on the wall. What made it worse is that the store didn't have any more boys! Grandma and Aunt Krissa kept checking for us but nothing. Today we got a surprise in our mailbox from Aunt Krissa. Not only did she send us a boy, but she also sent us a "current Connor"! Thank you...it is perfect! (And thanks for the other goodies, too!)

I said yes, if she would let me practice with my camera using her and said flower. I had fun. They're not great, but I'm learning! And I could've easily edited the nice little blemish between her eyes, but it's so her.

Our neighbors invited us to go swimming with them down at the neighborhood pool this morning. Megan was ready at 7:00 a.m., of course. We decided that since it was a little bit cloudy and cool, we'd let Connor swim, too. He LOVED it!



It started to rain about 2 minutes after we got there. Heck, we were wet anyway, so it didn't bother us.

Then Connor needed to take a rest after all that action.

Oh, snap. Connor's almost crawling. And I mean almost. He's doing this little frog jump thing from all fours. It really started yesterday, but he's been practicing and perfecting it all morning. Holy smokes. Daddy will be installing the Tot-Locks this weekend.





Megan is busy at "work" on her "new" computer. Thanks Aunt Kelly for the great idea. Daddy took an old computer and Meganized it. She can use the internet to go to PBS kids, Starfall, and a Strawberry Shortcake site (much to her dismay we did not add Youtube to the list of approved sites) and she can type documents in Word. She is hard at work in there. I suspect we're going to have to set limits on her computer usage.

I was trying to get a video of Connor almost crawling, when someone just couldn't handle the fact that someone else was the center of attention.

I waited a few days into this new and exciting adventure of part-time employee, full-time mom to voice any observations or commentary. But, I won't leave you hanging any longer: so far so darn good! There are definite ups and downs, of which I'll get to in a minute, but the preliminary verdict is that this is the right decision for our family. I was worried that I'd go to the office and just sob and blubber about missing my kids, but it hasn't been that way at all - not even a single tear. I've gone into the office, worked hard, and then enjoyed the time with the family in the evenings. My job is actually very interesting and keeps me busy the entire time, so it's not like there a lot of time for me to worry about the kids.

The ups: the challenge of the job, exercising my brain, wearing makeup, adult conversation, my very cool boss, getting up and going early in the morning, audio books for the commute, and a quiet lunchtime.

The downs: making sure everything is packed for 4 people each day, high gas prices, strange sleep hours, and TRAFFIC!

Yeah, yeah, yeah, this is only the first few days of the adventure, but I couldn't have asked for a better start. It's encouraging that things are going so smoothly because it only makes it easier each day.

Yes folks, the time has come for me to kiss the bon-bons and soap opera watching lifestyle goodbye. Okay, maybe not that dramatic, but tomorrow will be my first day back at work outside the home. I took a part-time position and will work 3 days a week. I'll be home the other 4, which means business as usual those days. Best of both worlds?

Of course the decision to return to work was a difficult decision. When I quit teaching 3 1/2 years ago to stay home with Megan, it was conditional. I wasn't quite sure that I wanted to be a stay-at-home mom, but I wasn't sure that I wanted to be a working mom either. We had saved enough money for me to stay home for 2 years and then I would return to work - that seemed like a fair compromise. Enter Connor and a whole new dynamic. I'm actually pretty darn proud of us because we stretched that 2 years into 3 1/2 without falling apart. I've worked some jobs from home, yet that's not necessarily what it's cracked up to be. I constantly fight the very, very strong urge to work. Just when it seems I've convinced myself that yes, I want to be a stay-at-home mom, the urge to work just creeps right back up and bites me in the butt. It's a constant roller coaster or like the movie Groundhog Day or something. But now I have a great opportunity to work part-time, earn a little extra money, excellent child care, and so many other aspects that made this job a perfect fit for our family.

I spent the past week going all Erica on myself in planning for going back to work. The house is clean, meals are prepared and in the freezer for work night dinners, the kids are packed, my clothes are ready for the week, etc. Hopefully it flows smoothly. Hopefully.

I've talked to Megan about the changes, and she really acts like she couldn't care less. I hope this stays true. As for Connor....*sob*. It's a little harder to explain to a nursing 5 month old. I can't help but feel like I'm cheating him of what I have given to Megan, but as my aunt shared, via my cousin, things can't always be the same for each kid. My goal is to make this job worth it to my kids in every way possible.

Off to bed. I actually have to wake up to an alarm in the morning.

My dad, Grandpa, used to be a lifeguard and swim instructor. He's always been so good, and extremely patient, with all kids regarding water (or anything for that matter). Megan's been calling him to tell him about her swimming progress and has also invited him, on numerous occasions, to just "drop by for a swim." He traveled ALL DAY LONG in the car and made it here around 9:45 p.m. No worries! Megan bounced out the front door in her suit, ready to go. They went down to the pool for a while and, even though I was uninvited to stay, I took pictures of their adventure. They swam in the big pool for a while, splashed in the fountains, and ended up back in the big pool with no floaties on Megan's arms. Appreciative of the time he made for the swimming adventure, I certainly did not care that they swam until almost 11:00 p.m. There's always time for sleep later.

The purpose of this picture is not for you to look at me. I am fully aware that I need a haircut, a facial, to start exercising, a new wardrobe, yada yada. Now that I've taken away all your commentary material, here's the real purpose for the post.

I just wanted you to see what I have to deal with all day. As previously mentioned, Megan is hot-to-trot about swimming! She wears her swimsuit and floaties around the house just in case it's actually time to go swimming. This is after, of course, her declaration every morning at 6:45 a.m. or thereabouts that it is time to go swimming. Daddy took her to the neighborhood pool two nights in a row, and just last night she decided that she wanted to swim without floaties. She did pretty darn well. She also got to swim today at our neighbor's house while we worked on my blog makeover. I don't know how long we can keep this swimming routine up, but she's going to try to get us to go every minute of every day - and I promise that is not an exaggeration.

She's even taken to calling around, grandparents are the current target, to tell about her swimming adventures. Side note: She called Grandpa last night. His voicemail picked up and she left a message about swimming. It got a little lengthy, so I suggested she say "call me back." She turned to me and said, "No! I want to press 1 for more options!"

I suspect we'll be back out at the pool tomorrow...and the next day...and the next....

Yes, you are on the right blog if you're looking for nutty 'ole Erica. I'm still here, but I've changed things up a bit. I'm still a rambling, clueless mom - don't you worry about that. But in addition to many other changes I'm making in life and motherhood, I decided it was time for a blog name change as well. Hope you still find time to read my ramblings...that part won't change. Thanks to my good friend Marla and her blog html skills, the new blog is up and running. (I might or might not have had this background done, sitting on my desktop for over a month now!)

I chose the title of this blog, Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way, because that's who I've become lately. Thank goodness. Although petrified at first, I'm now pretty adjusted to being a mom of 2 kids. I'm amazed at myself sometimes, as well as disappointed, and look forward to each new adventure. I have a ton to learn about being a mom, and hopefully I won't ruin my kids in the meantime, while trying. I love being a mom, love being a wife, and truly, I wouldn't have it any other way. *sigh*

Enough sappiness and gushy stuff. Hope you're still along for the ride!

I spoke out of turn and threatened someone that I would take a picture with my camera in manual setting instead of on auto today. So I tried. And I failed. But in the meantime, I got some decent pics of my kids. And a slice of humble pie. :)





One of Connor's favorite things to do is teach Megan a lesson about dangling her hair in front of his hands.



And seriously, he sits. Not just for a few seconds...he sits for a long time. I don't know how he does it with those thighs, but he does it.

In one short week, Megan has gone from being petrified of swimming to sticking her head under the water without holding her nose. It's like a switch flicked on in her somewhere. We've tried all summer to get her to wear a pair of floaties so she can "swim" on her own. Not a chance. She'd scream, cry, and act like we were torturing her with the mere suggestion (drama!). Last Friday night we went over to our neighbor's pool. She suggested a pair of floaties for Megan; Megan put them right on, walked into the pool, and swam all on her own. Sunday night, she decided to start holding her nose and putting her face in the water. Less than 30 minutes later, she was putting her face in without holding her nose.

Today, she came in at 4 p.m. wearing her swimsuit and declared, "We're going to the pool!" We waited a very painful (VERY painful) 4 hours for Daddy to get home. Once she hit the pool, she was at it again.







Connor and I just sat and watched the fun. Connor LOVES his stroller. He also loves his voice.

Driving down the freeway today, sirens coming upon us.

Megan: Mom! Emergency!
Mommy: Yep, that's an ambulance.
Megan: Is that Michael Jackson in there?


Sitting by the pool next to our neighbor.

Neighbor: Megan, want to help me mow and weed my yard tomorrow?
Megan: Nope. Can't.
Neighbor: Why not?
Megan: **sigh** I have family problems. (she does not have family problems, just so you know)


In the kitchen, making lunch.

Megan: Mom, what's a production?
Mom: Well, it could be a play where people dress up and act or it could be making a big deal out of something.
Megan: **sigh** I'll ask Dad when he gets home.

Take one 25lb box of these...


remove these...


and you get these...


Several years ago, my dad and I started a tradition - canning peaches. It doesn't always happen each year, but at least we try. I was at our local produce joint this week, and he had boxes of very delicious peaches. I bought one. Dad agreed to make time in his schedule to can them today. My friend Joanna also came over and she got thrown right into all the chaos. So, tons of peach juice all over the kitchen and a few experiments later, we had canned peaches and homemade peach butter. YUM-O!

One of my favorite things about canning with my dad is his patience with me. My other favorite thing is that he regularly says, "Well, that's what Grammy used to do." I love the references to Grammy, who I truly miss when it comes to times like these. The references to her make me stop, smile, and think of her. Love it.

Last night, my high school friend Buffy, and her family, came over for dinner. Can I just say, "Thank you, Facebook!" Megan got along very well with her kids, and they all played so nicely late into the evening. We spent the time catching up on the past...um, several years. Be nice, this photo was taken as they were getting ready to leave - late, after a very long day!

I've been informed that we have a dragon in the living room, tied up on a teeny-tiny rope.

Megan: Mom, did you leave the dragon that's tied up in the living room for me?
Mom: There's a dragon in there?
Megan: Yep, on a teeny-tiny rope.
Mom: Hmmm....where?
Megan: Tied up behind the TV.
Mom: Really? What color is it?
Megan: Brown. No, red. No, really it's fuchsia.
Dad: That sounds like a Fancy Nancy dragon.
Megan: Yep. But, mom, do you want to go help me find him?
Mom: Sure. What's his name?
Megan: Hanko. Let's go check on him.
Mom: Okay, you lead the way.
Megan: Be very quiet and tiptoe.
*walked very quietly, and tiptoed to the living room*
Megan: Oh, look....just what I thought. He's dead. Nevermind.