A Hallmark Holiday

Valentine's Day is upon us. I know because yesterday I loaded up the kids for a quick trip to Super Target to buy those familiar little school-kid valentines for Mason's Valentine's Day party at school today. Mason wasn't really interested in the boxes of valentines, (he was more obsessed with a can candle on the next shelf) so being a frugal mom, I picked out the cheapest box I could find. Unfortunately, they don't make preschool class size boxes. I had to buy a box of 32 even though I only needed 9. I guess we'll be giving Disney Pixar movie valentines for the next couple of years.

This was the first time I've bought valentines since I was in grade school - 5th grade I think. I can remember making our big red envelopes out of construction paper, glue, and glitter which we taped to the edge of our desk to act as our valentine mail box. On party day, each of us passed out our little white envelopes containing the valentines we carefully and painstakingly selected for each person so as not to imply any sentiment that could be misconstrued causing much embarrassment. Of course the best valentines to give or receive were ones with candy attached. The ones I gave never had candy though - I guess my mom was a frugal mom too.

I have been known to give Dave a Valentines Day card a time or two during our dating years, but I seriously doubt he even remembers it. Neither one of us has ever made a big deal out of the holiday, and (I probably shouldn't admit this) that's okay with me. It's really just a Hallmark Holiday anyway, popularized by the greeting card, candy, and flower industry, right? How did we go from early Christian martyrs to celebrating love anyway? I'd much rather be surprised with candy and flowers on just a random day (hint, hint Dave).

Even so, I have nice memories of grade school Valentine's Day parties, so I will do my duty as a Mom and buy valentines (without candy) for my kids to pass out at their own schools from now on. I will even sit down and address them for my kids even if they are more interested in watching the Cars movie on TV instead. I want them to have their own fun memories of Valentine's Day parties like I do because I love them. And love it what it's all about.

Christmas in January

Last week we went on a trip to Pigeon Forge, TN to visit family for a delayed Christmas get-together. My parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephews joined us in a cabin for 4 days. We had a great time just hanging out together as we very rarely are all together at once. One morning while we were there, we took Mason and Lauren on the gondola ride in Gatlinburg to the ski area at the top of the mountain. We had no intentions of skiing, but the ride was nice and Mason got to see some "snow" (machine made). We also went outlet shopping one afternoon, but the rest of the time, we hung out in our very nice 5-bedroom cabin. We had fun playing lots of games and the Wii my brother brought. And since it's hard to take 4 kids out to dinner, we made all of our meals in the kitchen.

Here's a pic of Mason and his cousins, Chandler and Kellon.

I Survived the Three Month Growth Spurt

Lauren turned three months old on January 13. A few days later, she hit her three-month growth spurt and turned into an eating machine. We're talking nursing about every 1-2 hours around the clock. I was getting up with her about 5 times a night. To make matters worse, it coincided with a really busy period for Dave with work. He's been working really long hours lately, so I wasn't able to count on him for much help. To make matters worse, I've cut back on coffee because it seems to affect Lauren's tummy, so I couldn't even count on that to get me through the day.

Thankfully though, my little glutton girl seems to have slowed down a bit. She's sleeping much longer stretches again, and I'm starting to get a little sanity back. Even though she's waking up at 5:00am (or even 4:00 lately) I'm still feeling a little better now that I'm only getting up with her once a night.

Since it's been a little while since I've posted any pictures, here are a few of my favorites from the last three weeks.

In this last picture, taken on the day Lauren turned three months old, she's wearing a dress made by her Great, Great Aunt Chris, and First Cousin (twice removed) Elaine. It was smoked by her Grandmama (my mom). They all did such a wonderful job, I wanted everyone to see how nice it looks.

A Few Random Updates

Some of the latest happenings in the Roszak household...

Lauren has recently taken to sucking her thumb. I'm rather surprised since I didn't encourage it, and I've never been able to get her to take a pacifier. It's cute for now, but I'm not looking forward to having to stop it later if this is something she keeps up.

The other day, Mason started calling me 'Mama' instead of 'Mommy' all of a sudden. I don't mind, but it's rather funny how these things change. He also started calling Dave by his name instead of 'Daddy' not long ago.

I think Lauren has hit her three-month growth spurt because she's been waking up several times a night to eat lately. She went to sleep at 9:30 last night but was up at 1:45, 4:00, 5:00, and up for good at 6:15. It's not helping that I've had to lay off coffee because it seems to make her cranky. Therefore, I'm a bit sleep deprived. Yesterday, I went to the bakery to buy some bread and left it sitting on the counter. It's been about six months since I've gotten a good nights sleep.

This morning while we were watching inauguration coverage, Mason "called" up Dave at work on his toy phone and said: "I'm watching Obama and playing with Mama's eyebrows. Love you. Bye bye." He was right on both counts.

On the Facebook Bandwagon

I decided to hop on the bandwagon and get on Facebook. I've had so many people ask me recently if I'm on there that I finally got the message and signed up.

So far, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do except collect 'friends'. I did fill out some profile info, added a couple of pictures, and responded to a few people. Then I spent a couple of hours looking at other peoples pages. (While nursing Lauren most of the time.) Mostly, it looks like a big time waster. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's nice to connect with old friends and keep up with people, but it's probably going to keep me from doing things I need to be doing when the kids are asleep like laundry or showering.

Last night I mentioned all this to Dave and he got so intrigued that he signed up too. So that's how we spent our Friday night... both of us on the couch with our laptops comparing how many 'friends' we have. It think it might turn out to be a competition between us. (So far I'm winning.)

Anyone want to be my Facebook friend and waste some time with me?

Like a Weed

Lauren is growing more and more every day. I can't stop her. Dave often comes home and says that she got bigger since he left for work. She's outgrown her baby acne so she is looking less and less newborn. She's also sleeping better (knock on wood) and for the past two night has had a 7-hour stretch before she wanted to eat. I was able to sleep from 10:30-5:00 twice in a row - woo-hoo!

She's such a good-natured baby. Quite the opposite of how Mason was. She will sit in her bouncy seat or swing way longer than Mason ever would. She likes riding in the car and will usually fall asleep. She rarely gets upset unless she's gassy (which happens once in awhile since she's still a once-a-week pooper) or Mason bonks her head. Most of the time she's just content to just sit and watch what's going on.

My new favorite thing is that she's starting to laugh. I've been trying to capture it on video, but I can't seem to get the best of it in time. Here's what I've gotten so far.

2008 - A Year in Review

Inspired by my friend Mary and her blog, I thought I'd take a look back the notable events of the past year...

We were blessed with a pregnancy on our first try

Our good friends and neighbors moved away (miss you Jen!)

I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and began medication for the duration of my pregnancy

Mason stopped nursing completely

Mason turned 2

I turned 31

I got a kidney stone while on a trip to North Myrtle Beach

We took Mason on his first visit to Disney World

Dave and I celebrated 6 years of marriage

I took my first trip with Mason without Dave (family reunion in Atlanta)

Mason moved to a new room and out of the crib into a full size bed

I began this blog

Mason began preschool

We did some much needed landscaping around the house and installed a new swingset in the backyard

Our beautiful daughter was born

Lauren started smiling

We spent Thanksgiving and Christmas at home for the first time

I went to sleep at 11:00 on new years eve, only to be awakened just before midnight to ring in the new year with my nursing daughter


What a wonderful year it was. We started the year as a family of three and finished as a family of four. We've truely been blessed. I'm not much for resolutions, but this year I want to try to remember to be more thankful for all that I have. Happy New Year!