Our Little Russian Peanut

Nope - that's not a typo.... it's "bacation" or how Andrew pronounces "vacation". :-) Such a cutie! As you all know, we went to Tennessee last weekend. We were taking Alex to visit two schools but also tried to treat it as a mini vacation of sorts. At least in Andrew's mind. :-) Can I brag for a second? I had two AWESOME children for the entire weekend. Schedules were turned upside down, the big kid had to do things the little kid wanted to do and vice verse and everyone was pleasant. I was So. Freaking. Proud.

A wardrobe malfunction

We all crashed (and slept horribly, except for Andrew) that night (and all nights)and then headed to Bounce U in Nashville to meet up with even more awesome people and their kiddos! We got to spend time with Kim, Lexi and the boys, Adrienne, Jim and Owen, Carrie, Michael and little S, Carey and her two kiddos (private blog) and, of course Ondrea and family! We had a blast. I had the opportunity to meet Carrie, Adrienne and Carey in Nashville (what seems like) many moons ago so it was great to catch up with them. It was the first time meeting Kim and she was just as sweet in person as she is on her blog. Alex was awesome - playing with all of the kids and just enduring whatever attacked his legs at any point in time. :-)

The bloggers and their babies!

Even Alex had fun!

And so did Keith!

On Monday, the tables turned and it was all about Alex day. We started our day out by forgetting we actually had to CHECK OUT of our hotel room. :-) The maid knocked at the door and looked at us like "umm... hello! Are you leaving?". We were in our own world - knew we had to be at Vanderbilt until 2:30 and figured we'd just hang out in our room until then. Whoops! So, to kill time we went over to Centennial Park and fed the geese, ran around and took some great pictures. It's so rare to have all 3 boys (Keith is a boy) so I love to take pictures of them together.

Is this not the sweetest??

Feeding the geese!

At the Parthenon

At 2:30 we headed to Vanderbilt and started our tour. We walked into the info session with Andrew and I felt the daggers. People were NOT happy we had a toddler with us. I decided to take Andrew out of the room and sit him down with my ipod and low and behold he was an absolute angel. He watched the Little Einsteins and then on the walking tour he fell fast asleep in the stroller. I could not have asked for a better child. Alex LOVED Vandy. Loved, loved, loved it. Of course, it helped that he was the minority gender in our tour group. :-)

After Vandy we headed to eat at a taco place Ondrea said we needed to visit (yummy Queso!!) and then we started our drive to Sewanee (University of the South). We spent the night in... umm... a motel of sorts. I will be honest and say I'm a "hotel" kind of girl. Let's just say that I survived. We woke up Tuesday morning and went on a tour. Again - we had an angel three year old! What a beautiful school up on the mountain! Alex met with the swim coach and he was impressed with how close the professors/coaches are with their students. I think it made him start to realize that maybe 30,000 kids in one school is too much for him. We'll see.

Sewanee is not on the short list, but Vandy surely is. He knows what he needs to do to get in and he's willing to do it. He currently has a 3.89 GPA and a 1900 (out of 2400) SAT. Next year he is taking (hope you're sitting down) AP AB Calculus, AP Economics, AP Statistics, Spanish 4, Human Anatomy, World Literature and something else I can't think of. For each AP class he gets and extra "quality point" so instead of a 4.0 as an A he could get a (5.0). I have so much to say about the higher education system but that is for another post. Vanderbilt, last year, had 19,000 applicants and only accepted 4,000. Crazy isn't it? And that is the norm nowadays. Alex's graduation year is supposed to increase the applicant pool by about 10,000 but the acceptance rate is still the same. Talk about competitive!

We didn't get much sleep on "bacation" but it was so much fun seeing all 3 boys together. There was a lot of bonding going on and it was so sweet to see. It was good time spent with Alex - quality time. Guess what we did tonight?? We had Sunday dinner together! And it was great. :-)

On another note (boy this is long winded... again) today, Andrew turned 3 1/2! Here's the conversation we had about that.

Mom: Andrew! We need to measure you tomorrow. You'll be 3 1/2 years old tomorrow!
Andrew: 3 1/2 years old?
Mom: Yes! Tomorrow is the day you turn 3 1/2 years old!
Andrew: I like that. I really like that!

Hehehe... anyhow, we measured him! At 3, he measured 2'9". Today, he measured 3'2"! Yay bean greens! :-)

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!
Becky

I’ve been following along with so many of you that are getting ready to head to court and, ultimately, bring your kiddos home! I remember that feeling like it was yesterday. You start with the excitement, then comes the “goodness gracious what am I getting myself into and am I really ready for this” feeling and finally you are just ready and confident. There are so many things to think about during that time. For some it’s coordinating two trips for court/pick-up and for others it’s figuring out what to do for 3 weeks in Russia.

One of my biggest fears coming home was being trapped in an airplane with a screaming and unruly child for 9 hours. I knew I would be tired and so would Andrew which would magnify things. Andrew had so much energy (probably nervous energy) at the airport – I really thought we were doomed. We wound up with one meltdown and that was only because I didn’t understand that he wanted milk. Once he had his milk we were good to go.

I think I posted about this a while back (maybe) but figured it wouldn’t hurt to share our “strategy” for getting through the flight. Now, I’ve only done this once and it might have been beginners luck so don’t blame me if it doesn’t work! J

Things we brought to Russia:
A “Cars” backpack that we didn’t let Andrew see the entire time we were in Russia. We finally gave it to him once we got on the plane.
A sticker book
A Fisher Price kids iPod type thing (Thanks to Carey!)
A few cars
A few books

Once in Russia we realized that was not nearly enough to keep our son busy for 9 hours. We went to the children’s store on Novy Arbat and stocked up. From what I remember, we bought more stickers (dogs, trucks, birds, etc… things we knew he was interested in), foam puzzles, crayons and a coloring book.

Stickers on the tray table...

... and on daddy's face!

We also bought dried fruit, crackers, pretzels and I bought a box of baggies. I made small bags of each – probably packed about 10 - 15 small bags. We would only take one toy out of the bag at a time. Each time he got tired of it or appeared restless, back in the bag it went. By the time we got to the 8th toy, the 1st one was new again.

The biggest/longest lasting toy was the stickers. We did everything with stickers. Put them on the tray table, our nose, cheeks and chin. Put them on the seats, the headphones and on paper. Another big hit was simply the headphones and the plug. He would plug and unplug, plug and unplug. Some “toys” we didn’t think were toys wound up being a belt (he loved Keith’s belt) and our camera. Think about buying a toddler camera. There is something about gadgets that little kids love.

Andrew only slept about an hour the entire flight. Thankfully, he didn’t fuss a ton. The food kept his hands and mouth busy and regular trips to the potty allowed him to get up and exercise. Actually, one of his first “phrases” that he repeated back was “I gotcha!” I would balance him on the sink while I went to the bathroom (he didn’t have shoes on) and I would say over and over again “I gotcha” and he thought that was the funniest thing. I wish I was so easily amused!

Some other things that have gotten me out of potentially bad meltdown situations since being home – string, dental floss, a ribbon/bow, those little 3M page markers, sticky notes and paper balls. Andrew loves trying to tie things together (or untying things like bows) so anything like that has been a lifesaver.

You have no clue how excited I am for so many of you! I can’t wait to see pictures of your little ones and hear how your trip home went. Put lots of tricks in your bags because these kiddos are headstrong and want to explore everything. Most importantly, enjoy! This is an awesome time for you and your family so make the best of every moment!

Self Portrait (one of about 1,000)

Playing with daddy's belt

Plugging and unplugging

Hugs!

Becky

Here are some pictures I've been meaning to post for a while! Enjoy!

So much of this blog has been about Andrew. He’s the reason it was started and while we’ve always talked about every day life, it’s usually about every day life with a toddler. The other 50% of our time is life with a teenager and it’s becoming more and more complex and we’ve learned some lessons this past week.

Let me start off by saying that Alex is one of the most amazing kids I’ve ever known. Always has a sunny disposition, the glass is always half full, he’s naturally smart, naturally athletic, handsome, funny and so mature. Alex, Keith and I have always had an open and honest relationship. Say what you want, but be prepared for our opinions was always the motto. He would always tell on himself before the teacher had a chance too – just that kind of kid.

I’m been amazed at how easy his teenage years have been. I’ve expected some rebelling, back talking, grades dropping, etc… the typical things but to date, we’ve really had none of that. It’s been “easy” and I think when things seem so “easy” you tend to take things for granted. I’ve always taken it for granted that Alex would always tell us everything and never imagined a day when he would stop.

We see Alex about 20 minutes a day – when he comes in the house after swim practice and before he heads upstairs to do his homework. Just the other night, I went up to his room to talk to him some more about the meeting we had at school regarding college selections. While talking to him, I noticed a note on the floor and some of the text I saw made me curious. I asked if I could read it, he said sure and so I did. It was from another parent telling him that regardless of how dark his week seems, he’s got so many people that care for him and if he ever needs someone to talk to, they are there.

I was lost and confused. I had no clue what prompted this letter and I immediately knew that we had lost touch. Somewhere along the way, we lost our status as the “go-to” people in Alex’s life. Without getting into too much detail about the note, I realized that Alex’s go to person is now his girlfriend. Ah yes… girlfriends. :-) Just you mom’s of boys wait until this phase of your child’s life. SO MUCH FUN! (insert sarcasm here!)

Obviously the letter prompted a conversation between Alex and I as to what it was about and if he felt like he couldn’t talk to us. Of course that wasn’t the case at all… he’s 17, he has a girlfriend and we’re chopped liver. :-) I know my parents were chopped liver once I had a boyfriend too (Sorry, dad!!). We also don’t have the quality time together like we used to – time in the car together before school and after school, weekends doing things together, etc… I started to write that our quality time is all a thing of the past but it’s not – it’s just something we have to work harder at making sure happens.

I think it’s so darn easy to get caught up in life – the daily things. Things like the laundry, the house and making sure homework is done that we forget about the bigger things like sitting down once a week and just talking about things. Cell phones, computers, texting have made it that much harder and so much more impersonal. Add to all of that, a teenager with a car, sports and a social life.

I keep thinking “We need to say “No!” to more” but Alex works so hard during the week that he needs play time and time to unwind. Sitting in the house with parents when you’re 17 is not unwinding because inevitably you will end up doing laundry. :-) At least in my house you will! Andrew also takes up a lot of the conversation/attention and I’m sure it’s nice to escape that for a few hours too.

As a result of all of this, Sunday dinners are mandatory unless there is an event taking place that is on the calendar. Not on the calendar? Not happening. Every night once we’re all home, we’ll sit down and chat about the day. Homework can wait and extra 5 minutes. When Alex gets overtired we will say “no” to things instead of letting him convince us he “needs” to do whatever it is (usually more swimming).

Like I told Keith (when I woke him up to tell him about the note that was keeping me up) – we have about 75 more Sunday’s with Alex before he goes off to college. 75! Can you believe that? I never want to look back and wish we had spent more quality time together or regret having lost the connection we worked so hard to build.

I know a teenager is a teenager. I was one too and I guess I expected teenage hood to hit a bit earlier. I kind of expected to be chopped liver by the time Alex was 14 and I guess we got comfy thinking that wasn’t going to happen. Maybe I forgot to knock on wood or something. :-)

So, we sat down with Alex last night and talked about what was bothering him. Earlier last week his swim coach passed away unexpectedly and it hit him a lot harder then we realized. It was another important female in his life that was now gone (his mom being the first). He’s not happy with his grades (he had all mid-90’s and an 89 last semester and is taking an AP course and Honor’s Course… seriously!?! I would have paid for those grades in HS!), he’s unmotivated with school and is “over it”. He’s also not happy that he is only an alternate for the state swim team and he’s not where he wants to be in swimming.

He puts an unbelievable about of pressure on himself to do bigger and better then what he did the time before. While that is a great trait, it obviously takes a toll on him. We can tell he is exhausted and burned out. We hope that now that the school swim season is over (he does year round swimming as well), things will slow down a bit and he can slow down a bit. Not to mention the raging hormones and everything that comes along with being 17.

Why am I telling you all of this? Heck if I know! :-) Build your foundation with your kiddos from the get go – it’s never too early. Andrew already tells on himself and I love it! It opens the door to talking about things, even at the ripe age of 3 when he gets in trouble for not using his walking feet and knocking down other kid’s block towers. :-)

I've been tagged by Jenny (private blog) and also Jodi! I wish I hadn't been at work when I was tagged because this is going be very boring! (Not that I'm blogging at work, because if I was that would be wrong.) This may almost be as boring as watching paint dry... actually, maybe more boring than watching paint dry.

So, here are the rules:
1. Grab the nearest book.
2. Open to page 56.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the text of the next 2 to 5 sentences, along with these rules.
5. Don't dig for your favorite book, the cool book, or the intellectual book. Pick the CLOSEST!
6. Tag five (or more) other people to do the same!

Without further ado, the book I have closest to me is an Oracle PL/SQL Language book.

"Variables of these types are declared via the %ROWTYPE attribute. The record's fields correspond to the table's columns or the columns in the SELECT list. For example:
DECLARE
CURSOR comp_summar_cur IS
SELECT c.company_id, SUM(s.gross_sales)gross from company c, sales s....."

Are you stilll awake?? :-)

So, now it's my turn to tag 5 people! If you've done this before, so sorry!
1. Ondrea (I know what she's reading!)
2. Dana (of Aaron and Dana)
3. Dana (of Dana and Scott)
4. Jackie (I think I know what she's reading. Regardless, it is more exciting then SQL)
5. Joy

I hope you enjoyed this version of Becky's geeky moments! :-)
Becky

Last Wednesday, Andrew had some minor outpatient surgery. He was such a trooper! We went to Children's Healthcare of Atlanta's outpatient center and I have never been more impressed. Poor little guy wasn't scheduled for surgery until 2:10 and wasn't able to eat after midnight the night before with the exception of some popsicles up until 10 am the day of surgery.

We had to be at the surgery center at 12:10 and everything worked like clockwork. We were taken back to our own room where they had a basketball hoop, pickup trucks, a rocking horse, etc... Andrew had no clue what was going on! He was too amused with all the new toys (and the fact that the nurse promised him an orange popsicle after he was done!). I got to take him back to the surgery room and stayed with him until he fell asleep. I held his hand as he breathed in the mask and the nurses and anesthesiologist were so wonderful! They made him think he was blowing up a big balloon. Just before he went under he struggled a little bit and then was out like a light!

I, of course, left the room with tears streaming down my face. My little baby, laying on this big table in the middle of a huge sterile bright white room just overwhelmed me! I knew this was routine, circumcisions are done every day and there was nothing to worry about, but still! That was my baby in there! About 45 mins later the doctor came in and said he was doing great, all went well and we need to follow up in 4 weeks. Have I mentioned how impressed I was with this whole thing? I was... really, really was. Heck, they took him back to surgery 10 mins BEFORE his scheduled time. When does that ever happen??

Andrew came into recovery and snuggled with Keith while he drank his apple juice and ate his popsicle. He wasn't too happy to see me since I was the one that took him in that other room, but it was okay. Once I asked him if he wanted french fries and chicken nuggets we became fast friends. :-) We were allowed to leave about an hour later and headed straight to Wendy's. Keith and I hadn't eaten anything either because we couldn't eat in front of Andrew! I was dying!!

The doctor gave us a prescription for tylenol with codeine. As much as I knew that medicine was to keep my little guy from hurting, I was secretly thankful to have the medication to keep him still for as many days as possible since the dr said no jumping, running, etc... for 5 days. 5 days keeping a 3 year old immobile. Cake, right? I knew that the tylenol with codeine would be my saving grace those first 48 hours until.......................... I realized the codeine made my child hyper. Can a girl not get a break??

Andrew was all over the place. One of the hardest parts was trying to get him to understand that he wasn't able to stand on his own since the coddle (not sure if that's spelled right, but apparently it's like a mini-epidural) hadn't worn off. It took both Keith and I to watch after him those first few hours. And to think... I was so looking forward to sitting and snuggling with my little guy.

Despite bouncing off walls, Andrew was as affectionate as he's ever been. He'd be playing with his train, come over and said "I need a kiss", get his kiss and head back to his train. Or he'd be playing with his frying pan, turn, run over and grab me, say "I love you" and then back to "cooking". It was so, so cute.

One funny... soon after we got home we had to explain to Andrew that his peetkah (Russian for boy's body part) had a boo-boo because he was ready to just monkey around with Keith. Well, we take him into the bathroom to go potty and he yells out "Hey!! I'm going pee-pee with my new peetkah!!". He was so excited and so proud! :-)

So, anyhow, I spent Wednesday - Sunday home with Andrew and, to be honest, I wasn't sure how we'd do. We couldn't do any of our normal outings - McD's play area, monkey joes, etc... I didn't know if we would survive being in the house, not running and just "chilling out" because I don't think three year olds know how to chill. Let me just tell you - we had an awesome five days. For the first time since we've been home, I felt "in control". Hmm... that probably requires more explanation, huh?

For the first time since being home with Andrew, I didn't feel like I needed Keith to walk in the door at 5:00 and save me. I didn't feel like every temper tantrum ruined my entire day. I was able to discipline him and he listened to me without me having to blow my stack. I didn't need Keith to put him down for his nap because he wouldn't listen to me - he went willingly. I didn't need to leave the house to have fun with my son... we had fun just hanging out. That's not to say we didn't have our "moments" but those moments were few and far between and we overcame them rather quickly. All in all, it was a very successful five days. I'm going to miss the kiddo tomorrow!

Oh... one more funny... Since I was the one taken Andrew back to the surgery room, I had to wear a gown and cap. I had gotten Andrew changed into his and I turned to Keith and said "I don't understand why I need to put this on and tie it in the back and show the world my butt!" Keith says "Ummm... Beck? You put it on OVER your clothes." :-) He followed that up with "You need to put that on your blog". :-) Yep - I was about to get naked.

On that note, I'll leave you with some pictures of our trip to Children's. I should mention that Andrew is doing great and only held off jumping, bumping, bouncing and straddling for about 24 hours. :-)