My Jewelry

Post written 1/12/13

The other day when we were at the zoo, my sister Kimberly sent a text to Brittany and I showing us how she was wearing one of the bracelets my mom made.  I had to laugh because I too was wearing a bracelet my mom made.  So I took a pic and sent it to her.

One of the things that means the absolute most to me is the jewelry I have from my mom.  She left her jewelry to her daughters in her note.  My mom had a TON of jewelry.  It was something she really enjoyed.  She also really enjoyed making bead jewelry.  I was amazed at some of the complicated designs she did and how much time she had to put into making these beautiful pieces.  There were days that she didn't feel good enough to leave the house but she could put her focus onto beading.  I have memories of her hands shaking (a side affect from the medication) but she would still be sitting there beading.

So when we were going through her things, we divided up her jewelry and all got quite a few pieces.  We also sold some of it at the garage sale - there was just so much of it that to keep it all was silly.  I am appreciative of the money we made from selling her jewelry.  I know that members of our family, that she loved, also got pieces she made and I KNOW she would have wanted that.  Looking back I might have changed how we did it and given pieces to those she loved and love her but I wouldn't have sold it to strangers.

Her jewelry has brought me comfort and helped me feel close to her.  I wear a piece of her jewelry - either a bracelet, necklace, or earrings nearly every day.  When I look at them, I think of her.  When I get compliments on them, I proudly say "My mom gave it to me".  She had great taste.  She had a sense of style that I didn't inherit and did an amazing job of looking nice even when her outfit may have come from a second hand store.  I like to think she's proud of me for branching out and wearing pieces of her jewelry that might have been outside of my typical style before she passed. 

I miss her terribly.  I still have a great dad and a step-mom but it's funny to me that with the loss of my mom I have lost a big part of my foundation.  There are times I feel like an orphan.  She kept me connected with my extended family.  She got excited over my successes.  She listened when I needed to talk.  When a day is going by normally, I forget she's gone.  Then I will think about telling her something or see something she'd like and I remember that she's gone.  The worst thing is the finality of it - she's gone for the rest of my life.

But I appreciate the way I feel like I have her with me when I wear her jewelry.  She was extremely talented.  Thank you Mom!

ALL this jewelry was hers

A purple bracelet she made for me

She made such a variety of styles

Amazing detailed work

2nd week of January

When I was at Brittany's for lunch, I went to check on Max and this is what I found - one sock off...  Wonder how he did that!

I had to go to Toronto, Canada for a work trip for 2 nights.  I was NOT looking forward to leaving my boys, especially after getting to enjoy so much time with them during the holidays.  Peter drove Max to Brittany's so I got into the backseat to say goodbye.  I didn't want to get back out.  I was also sad because I had made the decision that my trip to Canada would mark the end of nursing (remember, I was only nursing in the morning at this point and not pumping throughout the day).   So the morning of the 8th was the last time I nursed Max.  I had wanted to make it to 18 months, was only 11 days short.

And then Max started throwing a fit which made it easier to get out of the car.  :)

Brittany was nice enough to send me pics during the day so that I could see what he was up to.  Look at this mess he made!

He found the book with the stickers in them.

He hurt himself somehow.  Poor kid.

At home he had fun playing with daddy.  He is enjoying his new tunnel.

Eating his snacks in the tunnel

It's always interesting to see things that are different compared to home.  Look at this weird vegetable I found - creepy.

I was tempted quite frequently to buy stuff for Max.  That's going to be a bad thing if I start going on a lot of trips.  I will be bringing home a bunch of crap.  :)  I almost bought him one of these dolls but was able to resist the temptation.

I brought home snacks for Peter like Smarties (similar to M&Ms), these chocolate candies and some Ketchup flavored Lays chips.  I really wanted to bring home some Old Dutch Salt N Vinegar potato chips because I LOVE THEM.   (I remember getting them with my family when I was around 10 and we drove up to Vancouver.)  Alas, I passed them up when I saw them and then didn't find them again.

In case you are wondering...Ketchup potato chips?  yeah, not so great.

Max now says both our names - Peter (sounds like Pee-uh) and Kallie (sounds like either kowee or towee).  He still says Mom/Mommy/Momma and Dad/Daddy but commonly when he wants something he will use our first names.  Cracks me up.

We went to 5 guys for dinner over the weekend.  We let Max try dipping his fries into ketchup for the first time.  Of course, he loved it and was really good at it.  He really wants to be independent.  For example, he wanted to hold his own drink instead of us holding is.  He also asked to wear a hat today.

He's still fighting taking naps unless I lay down with him (which means I end up taking a nap too).  He has to have his blankie in order to sleep.  Thanks Aunt Aja for making this gorgeous blanket for Max!

He was walking around holding a stud finder to his ear like a phone.

He loves wearing his hats.

This isn't a baby anymore - he's a little boy!!

Max and his blankie first thing in the morning.  When he wakes up, he stands up and calls for Peter and I.  When we get close to getting him, he drops down and picks up his blanket so it comes out of the crib with him.

Playing with the shape sorter I got him in Canada.

Sneaky kid knows where the snacks are.  If we aren't good about keeping the pantry closed, we find things like this.

An update about Maxwell:

1. He likes bean burritos
2. He loves watching the Baby Einstein farm video
3. He loves whoers and finally will let me put his head in the water to rinse off the shampoo without getting upset most of the time
4. He is a DADDY'S BOY!
5. When I got back from Canada, he only wanted his daddy.  He only wanted daddy to hold him, feed him, change his diaper, read to him, etc.  It made me sad.  :(
6. BUT...When I took him to Kindermusic, he wouldn't leave my side.  So that made me feel better.
7. He loves his number book and wants to read it over and over and over (which, gets old quick for me because there are no words...just the numbers 1- 10).  He says Number (sound like nummer) when he wants to read it.
8. He has figured out that his toys can go down the slide.
9. I still have to keep toys or something else in his hands during diaper changes because otherwise, he's reaching down there which is NOT good.  Poop should only be on bumms.
10. He likes to play with anything that has a zipper.
11. Hayden has started calling him Maxwell which is just so sweet.

Feeding the ducks

It was a beautiful weekend so we got outside to enjoy it.  We took Max to feed the ducks at a park down the road.  It wasn't a great set up for feeding the ducks but it worked.

Big kid walking by himself

We were sitting up on top of a bridge, tossing bread down to the ducks

See him leaning over?  Yeah, this made me SUPER nervous.  I'm like, "Peter...don't drop my baby".  Peter's laughing at me about that.

Max was happy about it though

Video - Max enjoying ripping the bread into pieces and throwing it at the ducks.

See the ducks way on the other side of the water?  Yeah.  They couldn't care less about the bread we were throwing them.  (When we got there a dad was there with his daughter feeding the ducks.  Maybe the ducks were full from them?)

The bread kept disappearing even though the ducks weren't eating it.  We soon understood why.  There were catfish in the lake that were eating the bread.  I caught this picture at the exact moment that fish came up for the bread.  Crazy!

Love that dimple!

He had a fun time.

First week of 2013

2013 started off great.  We got to enjoy 2 more days with Kimberly, Tyler, and Kaitlyn.  Max was finally warming up to them!  We noticed on January 1st that Max's first two molars had broken through on the top of his mouth.  No wonder he'd been so drooly!

Holiday left overs make for yummy meals! (I made Grandma B's jello for the first time, so yummy!)

Kaitlyn got her reading practice in by reading to Max.

There was lots of "boy" playing over the past week!

He liked Kaitlyn's reading so much that he sat down and got comfy.  :)  So sweet!

This is how we saw Kimberly quite frequently - we gave her a hard time about it, of course.

Max didn't want Kaity reading to him anymore but he still wanted to be by her.

I went back to work the next day and while I was at work, magic happened.  And by magic, I mean an awesome cleaning lady named Katy.  Seriously I LOVE her.  See those baskets on the fireplace?  That all the laundry she folded for me.

She cleans any dishes that aren't in the dishwasher.  (I do my best to limit this because I feel bad having her clean my dishes.)

There is nothing better than climbing into bed at night after Katy has made the bed.  She must have gone to school for bed making because she's amazing!  I count my blessings that we get to have her come every 2 weeks.  It has been a very worthwhile expense for us.  It has removed stress on our marriage to not have to bicker about cleaning the house.  It frees up time for me on the weekend to spend time with Max instead of cleaning toilets.  PLUS it means I HAVE to completely tidy my house every 2 weeks because I don't want her to have to tidy it.  It ensures my house never turns into a complete disaster. 

I'd love to say that I'm a neat freak and not messy at all however I have come to accept the fact that it's not true.  I leave stuff all over and am not great at putting things away when I touch them plus I get distracted and move onto something else.  Oh well, that's why I work hard!! So I can have someone make up for my shortcomings.  :)

Video - When we were looking for our house our realtor talked about how with all the building going on around us, we would probably get to see some of the workers "throw" bricks.  He said that's how they got bricks from the ground up to the scaffolding above.  I've been looking for that and finally got to see it!  I took a quick video.  It's pretty cool.  The brick worker takes multiple bricks, throws them to the guy above him, who catches all of them at once.  I think it's pretty cool - you can watch.

We spent Kimber's last night over at Britt's house.  Max finally had warmed up to them.  He sat on Kimber's lap and here he cuddled with Ty.  It's too bad they had to go back home and next time we will have to start from scratch.  I love my sister, niece, and nephew.  I am so glad they got to be here for so long and we could all celebrate the holidays together.

Video - Here is Max's goodbye wave.  It's no longer the pageant wave.

Silly boy

Video - Max was singing in the car and I wanted to capture it so I held my phone over his car seat.  I didn't realize until I watched the video later that he was waving with his hand.

Max hadn't been feeling too hot for weeks.  At first I thought it was just a cold but then this week he had a fever, his cough was worse, and he just seemed sick even after his teeth broke through.  I had regularly been putting essential oils on Max to help him get over whatever it was.  I struggled with whether or not to take him to the doctor but eventually decided to go.  I didn't want to not get him help if he was really sick with something that could only be helped with some medicine.  So, on January 4th, to the pediatrician we went, for the very first time for anything other than a well child visit.  (Not bad considering he's almost 18 months old.)

Trying to get into everything

I love when he stands on his tip toes.  :)

His doctor checked him out and the good news was that it wasn't anything other than a possible cold.  The bad news, that meant he would just have to get over it.  It stinks to spend money to be told that nothing is wrong and nothing can be done.  But, of course, Max is worth it and I was glad to have the peace of mind to know he was okay.