Dawson and Owen had spent five days at my parents’ house over Christmas break. They finally came home today and Doug and I were very happy to see them. We loved having the time away to get things done around the house, and my mom and dad love spending time with their grandsons, but it was awfully quiet while they were gone.

Owen was mad that Poppa and Nonna didn’t stay for awhile after they brought him and Dawson home, but I managed to distract him with a game of Angry Birds on my new Kindle Fire. Big mistake on my part because Dawson (who loves everything that resembles a video game) managed to take over the Kindle and has kicked my butt with the high score. It’s amazing how technologically advanced my kids are.

I gave the boys a bath and they got dressed to go to the New Year’s at Noon celebration at the Central Wisconsin Children’s Museum in downtown Stevens Point.  I’m embarrassed to admit this, but it was their first visit since they moved to their new location.  I was amazed at how awesome the museum is now.  Owen was fascinated with all the exhibits, but the Grocery Store was his favorite.  Dawson loved the News Anchor station the best.

We had a very good time. They did a New Year countdown at Noon that was quite noisy. Owen freaked out when all the kids began honking their noise makers so we moved off to the side to calm him down. Dawson and I loved the champagne, which was really ginger ale. We had a toast and then the boys continued to play for a bit.

The CWCM is having their 1st Anniversary in their new building and we might go back to celebrate at their party on January 7th. Plover and Stevens Point locals are encouraged to attend. It will be great fun and admission is just $1 per person.

Later tonight we’re heading to the YMCA to celebrate the new year with some fun, games and swimming. The boys are super excited. We can’t wait! Happy New Year, everyone!

I think this is just a combination of my natural tendency to worry (a lot) and lack of sleep.  I haven’t been in bed before 10 p.m. in many long weeks.  I’m tired of it.  Pun intended.

Okay, and I’m just too busy.  I’m still learning the ins and outs of my new position at work.  Training is an ongoing process.  There is so much to know about the insurance industry.  Even applying my years of insurance experience isn’t enough to breeze through this training.  Also, worker’s compensation insurance is complex.  Each state follows it’s own rules on what is defined as a covered employee and I’m constantly learning all the “tricky situations” and exceptions to the rule.  It’s no wonder I crash on the couch for 10 minutes the second I walk through the front door.  I have to give my brain a break.

Lately I have had zero ambition to do anything other than go to work, get my homework and studying done each night, and try (oh, do I try) to spend quality time with the boys.  My poor kids.  I have slowly realized they are beginning to prefer Daddy over Mommy.  Mommy is always busy.  Mommy is burning the candle at both ends.

I’m learning to let go of some of the Mommy Guilt, however.  Tonight after work I rushed to Dawson’s school to watch him in wrestling practice.  Then he had a Cub Scout meeting at the Lutheran church down the street (we’re Catholic, but all of Dawson’s classmates are in this particular pack and the meetings are within walking distance of our house – it’s like killing two birds with one stone because I squeeze in some much needed exercise).  Our den leader is the mom of Dawson’s best friend and their family attends the same church we do.  It’s nice to have friends I can commiserate with.  It’s a win-win.

This is Dawson’s first year in wrestling.  When the registration form came home from school I asked him what he thought about it.  He said, “Yeah, Mom.  I think I might like to try it.”

I was a little nervous the first night (which was yesterday) because he really had no experience with the sport, but thankfully his coach was a wrestler in high school and college so he had lots of experience.  I think I may have gone to high school with him, actually, as he looks very familiar.  I keep meaning to ask him his name, but I’m get sidetracked and forget.

Tonight, Dawson won a “take down” against a second grader and he was super pumped.  It makes me happy to see him having fun and learning so many different things.  Plus, he likes to be active.  It’s good for him.

Owen is growing like a weed.  I bought him some pants a few weeks ago and I realized tonight they are getting to tight in the legs.  My little guy isn’t so little.  He’s got a strong build and I can definitely picture him as a tackle on the football team.  He loves to do everything Dawson does and this evening they played a mini game of  ”wrestle mania.”  Thank goodness Dawson knows that he has to be gentle with Owen.  But little brother is definitely a brute.  He didn’t hesitate to charge at his big brother and take him down.  Good times.

Overall, things are good.  Crazy chaotic, but I can’t really complain.  Life is….good!

Tonight I took both kids to the YMCA to swim in the Adventure Pool. After an hour of splashy fun I said it was time to go. Neither child wanted to get out of the water. I endured several minutes of crying and gave in to another 15 minutes. They finally agreed to get out because they were hungry.

When we got home Dawson and Owen ate as thought they’d been starving and they both fell asleep by 8:30. I managed to get all of my homework done online and now I’m wide awake. Swimming may just become our Friday night ritual.

Our summer is definitely beginning on the right foot. What have you all been up to?

Here’s some recent photo goodness:

They are growing right before my eyes and every day is special.  It’s so difficult to watch them grow up and become their own personalities.  As much as I love them and understand that this is part of life, in these moments I truly understand what it must have been like for my own mother to “let go” of her four children.

Dawson will be 7 years old in just a few months.  SEVEN.  It seems like yesterday that I was holding him in my arms and rocking him to sleep.  His life is no longer an off-shoot of mine.  He has his own life, separate from me.  He has experiences at school that I know nothing about.  When he gets home he tells me about his friends, what he’s learned, the emotions he feels when things happen during his day.  He is making his own memories and some day this little boy will be a man.  How do I get over the immensity of this fact of life that is staring me in the face every day?  Oh how I wish I cold slow down time.

Owen is almost two years old and I’m now realizing that everything I’ve experienced with Dawson is coming down the pipe with my youngest child.  My baby wants to be like his big brother so much, and it seems like he’s growing up twice as fast as Dawson is.  I don’t know how this is possible.  Owen is so full of energy and is always smiling.  When I look at his face I see how much he loves life.  I see how much he loves Dawson.  He is ready to conquer the world.

I can help but shed some tears.  I’m sad these little birds have to leave the nest some day, but I’m so lucky to be their mother and to watch them take flight right before my eyes.

When I arrived to pick him up, Dawson looked sad and worried.  I asked if he was feeling okay and he simply shook his head.  We walked from the nurse’s office to his classroom so that he could get his coat and backpack.  His teacher stopped to talk to me in the hallway.

Mrs. T made mention that Dawson was feeling some anxiety about riding the bus home from school.  I knew exactly what she was talking about.  A few weeks ago, Dawson told me some of the older kids (fourth and fifth graders) on the bus were poking him in the back of the head and calling him names.  Being a Love & Logic parent, I told Dawson how sad I was to hear this and asked him what he thought he could do about it.

After talking it over, he decided he would tell the bus driver if things got out of hand, and he would try to sit in the front of the bus whenever possible.  Dawson is the last one on the bus in the morning, so all the seats at the front are usually taken and he makes his way to the back where the naughty kids wreck havoc.

I discussed the situation with his teacher and she explained that Dawson becomes nervous just before the end of the day.  She thinks he may be worrying about the bus ride and it’s making him feel sick.  It broke my heart to hear these words.  The thought of my son enduring such torment is frustrating and infuriating.  I honestly had no idea it was causing him such anxiety.

Dawson is a polite child and he’s painfully shy.  He doesn’t cause trouble.  He doesn’t fight. He doesn’t talk back.  He will sit quietly and ignore anyone who intends to bring him harm.  This child has more patience than any adult I know.  I try to teach him to stand up for himself, to use descriptive words to tell the bullies that he doesn’t like what they are doing.  I’ve told him to politely ask them to stop.  Dawson tells me he did tell them to quit bothering him but it sounds like the bad behavior is persisting.

After school I called the school bus garage and left a message for the bus driver.  When she returned the call she told me that Dawson is one of the best kids on the bus.  He never yells or causes a distraction.  He always says hello and goodbye to her when getting on and off the bus.  She also told me she has been keeping an eye on the situation to the best of her ability, but that driving children safely to their destination is her first priority so she can’t always see everything that goes on.  I told her I understood; I know the drill.  My mother has been a school bus driver for 23 years.

The plan is to save a seat in the front of the bus for Dawson so that he doesn’t have to deal with the rotten kids in the back.  I’m so mad at those kids.  Shame on them for picking on someone littler than they are.  I am so upset that they cause my son so much anxiety.  It brings back memories of the same crap happening to me when I was in elementary school. I never fought back, I was too scared.  I often cried all the way home.

I sure hope this arrangement doesn’t single Dawson out and cause more teasing, but I don’t know what else to do.

The first house we went to was the next-door neighbor’s.  Dawson rang the doorbell.  He was a Star Wars Shadow Trooper this year.  When our neighbor came to the door she was carrying two large bags of candy.  Little Owen, dressed as Yoda, stood in the middle of the driveway holding his pumpkin pail and didn’t really understand what was happening.  When Dawson put some of the candy into the pail, Owen just stared inside with his mouth wide open.  It was like he couldn’t believe someone gave him candy and Mom didn’t swoop in to take it away.  I don’t usually let the boys have candy so this must have been Heaven to both Dawson and Owen.

I let Owen walk up to a few other houses and then put him in the wagon while Dawson continued around the neighborhood.  Every house we went to gave tons of candy to Dawson and then sent more over for Owen’s bucket.  I think we have enough candy to rot the teeth of an entire village.  We only went around the block and across the subdivision this year.  Then we came home so that Dawson could hand out candy to kids.  He had such a good time answering the door.  Owen was a quite startled with every ring of the doorbell, but I think he liked seeing the costumes just as much as the rest of us.

Check out my cute little goblins:

Halloween 2010

How was your Halloween?

So after lounging around with the boys for awhile, I fed them dinner, read stories and put them to bed by 9 p.m. so that I could watch The Good Wife on CBS. I got through the first half hour and the damn power went out with a huge gust of wind. It came back on for two seconds and out it went for 40 minutes. Grrrr. So now I’m waiting not-so-patiently for the episode to be available online. Ugh.

During the power outage, Dawson woke up and padded down the hall to the living room where Doug and I were lighting candles so we could actually see. Truthfully, I was ready to call it a night and head to bed myself, but the Doodlebug wanted to know why the house was so dark and quiet. I’m thinking his night light went out and he panicked. We found his Rocket light that uses battery power and all was right with the world.

Thankfully, Owen was peacefully sleeping in his crib. That baby is so damn cute. Just like his big brother. I look at my boys and wonder if they are really my kids. They are so smart. Owen looks up to Dawson and wants to do everything his big bro does. Dawson was coloring this afternoon and Owen stuck a crayon in his fist and began scribbling on the newspaper. It’s amazing what he picks up by observing others.

Owen & Dawson, Fall 2010

The power is back on and the house is still quiet. I love the few moments I have before bed each night. I like reflecting on the day (even if work sucked today) and wiping the slate clean for tomorrow.

How was your day?

When I’m Queen of My Own Life, I will rule that I be given two straight hours each day to read.  Considering I have a stack of books on my end table that I’d love to read, and magazines piling up in every corner of every room, I’ll probably need a full work day each week to catch up.  My husband will just have to deal with the diaper changing, the picking up of the toys, the constant yelling and craziness.

I just got the new issue of New York Magazine and haven’t had the chance to read about The Social Network, which is on the cover.  I’m not sure I want to watch this movie.  Anyone see it yet?  I love me some Facebook (hello, I’m on it every damn day), but do I really care about Mark Zuckerberg or whatever his name is?

It’s weird that Hollywood is making movies about social media.  I can’t wait for them to make a movie about Twitter.

Okay.  These kids of mine are whining.  The only think I’m queen of is chaos.  So much for blogging.

I had a long day at work and when 5 o’clock hit I was eager to get out of the office.  Things are busy for our family during the summer months.  Dawson begs for long days at the beach and Owen just loves riding in the stroller on long walks.  I’m just happy to spend time with my boys as they are growing so fast.

Dawson had T-ball right at 5 p.m. and thankfully my parents picked up the boys from daycare and I met them on the field for the game.  Dawson had one fabulous hit at bat.  He also played first base and caught a ball that was thrown to him.  He was super excited.

After the game I took the boys to a concert at a local park.  Tom Pease was playing at the band shell and what looked like hundreds of kids were eager to sing and dance to their favorite folk tunes.  Tom is a wonderful entertainer.  He sings, he has actions for his dances, he makes the most outrageous noises, and he can make up lyrics for a song in minutes.  (And here’s a secret: he’s been performing since I was in elementary school.  I still remember a concert he gave at Roosevelt School when I was in 3rd grade.  You do the math!)

Owen was mesmerized by the music.  The last Tom Pease concert we went to when he was just a few weeks old.  This time he was able to dance, and it was so cute.  I hope you enjoy the video.

This shit is getting old.  Yes, I said shit.  I can’t help it.  I’m reprimanding myself for not blogging.  Again.

The big news of the past few months:

Dawson has finished his year of 4K (4-year-old kindergarten).  He had a wonderful year.  He started out shy and quiet and ended the school year as a bright, outgoing and super happy boy.  He did miss half of the last day of school because he threw up.  It was the day of his 4K concert and I’m thinking the usual nerves that come with stardom got the better of him.  His teacher called for me to pick him up early.  I was bummed to miss all the little ones singing songs and dancing the hokey pokey, but I was more nervous about my son being sick. Turns out he was fine the next day.  I’m blaming stage fright.

Owen is almost 8 months old.  He’s nearly 25 pounds, almost 29 inches in length and he eats a lot.  We’re still nursing, too.  My baby has no intentions of weaning and I’m okay with that.  I just don’t know where he puts everything he consumes!  He eats rice cereal in the morning, baby food 3 times a day and nurses quite a bit throughout the day and evening.  He has been sleeping through the night, save for a few growth spurts that have caused him to wake up at 3 a.m. for a snack.  He will be the child to eat us out of house and home.  He is going to be a linebacker in the NFL.  Mark my words.  You should see his thighs.  Massive.

I have gone back to work.  I started a job with a temp agency back in February and have been working part-time hours ever since.  I like the flexibility that this opportunity brings.  I’m able to be home with my munchkins for the most part, but I also get to interact with adults and bring home a little cash, too.  I’m still searching for a full time job (since my contract with BlogHer ended in October) but this economy hasn’t rebounded as quickly as I’d hoped.  I’ve had interviews left and right, but the trouble is there are so many applicants for so few positions.  I’m just taking my time, trying to find the right job.  I had an interview last week that was fantastic and they will be contacting me this week with their decision.  Wish me luck!

Our calendar has been packed with parties and events.  We had two graduation parties we attended that last two Saturdays, not to mention church picnics, birthday parties and kids adventures.  I have been taking Dawson to the Lowe’s Build & Grow project days and he has such fun building the kits.  Yesterday he made a picture frame.  It is really cool.

This summer is looking good, too.  Two weddings, a bridal shower, baby shower and a mini-vacation are coming up.  I’m very excited!  I’m keeping the kids busy with swimming lessons, and Dawson is playing T-Ball and Soccer this summer.  I want him to have as much fun as he can before kindergarten starts this fall.

What are you all doing these days?  Any big summer plans?