Slightly Overwhelming.....

There have been some big happenings going on in the Deaner household over the past month or so and now I feel like I have a lot to write about in one post. Except that I cannot possibly update everything in one post or else I'll be sitting here until tomorrow. Frankly, I just don't have time for that. Between everything that I have been juggling in the past month and all the changes that have been going on, it has been pretty difficult to sit down and write. I can't tell y'all the number of times I have thought to myself that I needed to post but then the events started piling up and it was too overwhelming. In order to get them all out there and off my chest I'm going to list all the things that I probably SHOULD have posted about but didn't. So, in no particular order, here they are:

1. Evans is in love with his teacher and is obsessed with going to school. When I tell him it is time to go he stands at the back door and waits for me.2. I made a really awesome diaper cake for my sister-in-law's baby shower and promptly took 349823 pictures of it so that I could post about it. (if you could see how awesome it was, you would understand why this event made the important list!) If only I exhibited this much motivation and drive when I was in school and/or had a job. The sky would have been the limit! :)3. I had the brilliant idea of taking Evans to experience The Greatest Show On Earth with some friends of ours. Whew. The circus has a lot going on and surprisingly the kids seemed to really enjoy it. Even with all that singing and dancing it still wasn't half as loud at that musical, Wicked, so it didn't blow out their ear drums. I'd take him again in a heartbeat but I'd probably NOT purchase him the $22 spinning light baton thingie since he is scared of it and refuses to even hold it himself.(I'm not sure what was on TV in the background)

4. We are moving back to Germany. Tomorrow. A week later than anticipated. I don't really have a picture to illustrate this.

5. Last Wednesday I very nearly died from strep throat and fever. Everyone thought I was "nerving out" over the 9 hour flight with an 18 month old (and really, wouldn't that have been acceptable?) until my mom realized that I really was not joking and could not get up off the floor of my bedroom. It was a super dramatic sensational performance of will she die or won't she? Will she make it the airport and get on her flight or won't she? Will she land in Germany and live happily ever after or won't she? Will the Evil Empire (Delta) attempt to cancel her ticket and steal all her money or won't they? All the workings of a Lifetime movie I tell you. As it turns out, I did not die (I would have predicted otherwise), I did not make my flight, I have no idea what my fate in Deutschland will be, and of course the Evil Empire attempted to cancel my ticket and steal all my money. Duh.

6. After a precautionary visit to the pediatrician just to check out Evans' ears due to some crankiness it was discovered that he had a bad sinus infection AND strep throat as well. I blame him for my near death experience. Well, him or Monkey Joe's.(Evans posing with Monkey Joe. The mythical character that very nearly killed his mother).

7. I have made at least 17 trips to the Post Office in the last two weeks. Even an ultra pleasant postal worker could not make this endeavour more pleasant. And it certainly didn't make the line move any faster.

8. After having three "official last days" of school, Evans was forced to withdraw (again) from his fine institution of higher learning. He is going to miss his rigorous curriculum and demanding academic environment that challenged him twice weekly. If for some reason we were to show up for school on Friday, they would definitely think I was a lunatic. I'm the parent who just. won't. leave. All that being said, this weeks curriculum included learning to use a fork and a spoon. Meh! Please! We mastered that AGES ago! It is the single one thing that has been included in the curriculum that Evans already knew how to do. Seriously. Math? Vocabulary? No way. Eating? Check.Our last day of school picture.Approximately 15 minutes after the last day of school.

I think that about sums up our lives for the past few weeks but it is in no way the likely end to our drama. A sneak peek into our very near future includes a 9 hour and 20 minute flight with a child who thinks he is a monkey, will only eat goldfish and answers "no" to everything I say. Oh yeah, he is also supposed to be sitting in my lap. And when the madness of the flight ends we will begin the horrors of jet lag. I'd say that we are in for a very interesting next couple of days and I'll try not to wait too long to share this time!

Ready to go...

Yesterday was a big day at school for Evans. I got him dressed and told him it was time to leave to go see his teachers. Very surprisingly he went and stood at the back door trying to get out to the car. I think that must mean that we have finally turned the corner. There was no crying when we pulled into the school parking lot and he actually squealed with delight when I got him out of his car seat. A far cry from where we were a month ago with the wailing and nervous breakdown once we got there. He went right to his teacher and hardly looked back at me. My mom got to pick him up from school (yes, I think that it is a privilege) and she said that when she got there he was running around and throwing himself down into these big bean bag chairs that they have. In case y'all haven't noticed, the key word in that sentence was "running". I believe that at the tender age of 17.5 months my child has finally mastered walking. I don't know many children that eat their dinners with a fork and spoon but cannot walk on their own two feet. It's certainly puzzling but I think we can all move on with our lives! Now I am more concerned with him actually escaping from me on foot.Since it was Valentine's Day yesterday Evans got an extra special breakfast from Susie of heart shaped pancakes.The problem with this is that heart shaped pancakes are not actually made out of meat. Specifically sausage. So Evans did not care for it. Thankfully Susie had the foresight to add a patty of E's favorite breakfast treat.I didn't mind because I got to eat it. So. School was great, great, great. Until it was over and then the greatness wore off quickly. Apparently there was a triple birthday party and cake was served. Evans, who has never liked anything sweet in the past, supposedly LOVED the cake and devoured it. I wouldn't have believed it but he came home wearing the evidence.And acting like a maniac. The icing (which was red in case you can't see it all over Evans' pants) was also on his butt, his socks and his shoes (soles included). He refused to take a nap and was basically off the rails. It was sort of funny and cute at first until he started to come down from the high and the nap refusal caused nuclear meltdown. While I think that Evans had a great Valentine's Day it none the less ended with this scene.He may or may not have tried to knock over the flower arrangement but I decided his day had concluded. He slept for 12 hours and 45 minutes without a peep. I might consider cake and running him ragged next time I feel the need for a long sleep. I know I am a day behind but I had to share those stories. Happy Wednesday!

Valentine's Day Dance

Remember those? The dances that used to take place in middle school with a lot of awkward slow dancing? Maybe a little Def Lepard wailing about having ever needed someone so bad or Guns 'N Roses and the cold November rain? I've heard that kids these days are a lot more "advanced" than old folks like me were growing up but even I was shocked when I got a formal invitation to the Valentine's Day Dance at Evans' school. It might have been a poem with his hand print on it but, he did just learned to walk after all! All of the mom's and dad's were invited and I was impressed with the turn out. My mom met me at E's school so that we could bring the twins and I would actually be able to carry all three kids. Believe it or not, it is actually impossible to carry two infants in car seats and an 18 month old who cannot be trusted to walk himself. Even if you are super woman. When Mom and I entered the Fellowship Hall my middle school dances were immediately put to shame. THERE WAS A DJ THERE! And decorations. And lights. And balloons. And a photographer. And 492384 children! It was great. Evans' class was already in the Fellowship Hall and dancing in the middle of the room. I could only see him from the back...But I knew that the second I went around to the front and he saw me, it would be all over for him hanging out with his classmates. As I was trying to get ONE picture from the side(ish), I was spotted.Busted. The next thing I knew, this is what was clinging to my hips.Evans was clearly beat from his day at school and fighting hard to stay peppy. He was so happy to see me that he hugged my neck. We did all the things that one does at a school dance, including getting our picture taken in front of the balloon backdrop (I'll post when I get the professional pictures, ha!).Remember Henry from Thomas's birthday party? Crash car? He goes to Evans' school and we took a nice "couples" picture with Henry and Holly.While Henry would have much preferred to dance with Evans, E didn't really want to have anything to do with dancing (for once). Henry was forced to dance with an actual girl and I'm sure that his father won't mind!Even Jack and Molly had a bath and dressed up especially for the dance.Molly might have looked like a deer in the headlights but they were super cute AND well behaved. Especially since the music was blasting and there might have even been rap playing. It was a nice outing for the twins and I think that Evans and Susie had fun too. Just for the record, when I told Evans on Friday morning that it was time to go to school, he went and sat by the back door waiting to go. When I brought him into school and dropped him off in his classroom he waved to me and said bye bye. His early morning teacher was shocked and his willingness to let me go! During the dance his regular teacher came over to say hi to us and Evans lunged into her arms and didn't even regret it immediately!He might not look thrilled but he went willingly and did not seem to give a hoot about me. It is extremely satisfying to see your child enjoy something that used to make you such a nervous wreck. Whatever it takes, Tiffany necklaces included, I'm happy to do it! Wish there was a way he could go everyday but alas, there is a waiting list, I couldn't afford it and I think I might miss him too much!

Bouncing Joy

Last weekend my little cousin, Thomas, turned three years old. People often times mistake me for his aunt or his mother, my aunt Jennifer, for my cousin. I know that aunts and cousins are a really hard concept to grasp but I do actually know the difference. When I introduce someone to Jennifer and say, "this is my Aunt Jennifer" there is really no reason for that someone to respond with "Oh, you mean your cousin Jennifer"? This exact scenario has played out multiple times in my 31 year life span. So, just be clear, Jennifer is my mother's youngest sister and while she and my mom are 18 years apart, we are only 11 years apart. The combination of our relatively small age difference and Jennifer waiting until later to have children means that I have a 3 year old first cousin and 6 month old twin cousins. Evans has three first cousins once removed (I really do NOT understand all that once removed hocus pocus) who are close to his age, there is a 31 year difference between my first cousins and me and Jennifer is a Great Aunt at a pretty young age. Bet you didn't think you would get a lesson in genealogy, did ya? I just didn't want anyone to feel the need to point out to me that I might be referring to my family members with the wrong title. So, in the picture above I was attempting to get a cute shot of Evans and Thomas in their monkey shirts. Believe me or not, but Jennifer and I did not buy the shirts together or plan them. Evans is way more concerned with the little boy that was sitting on Thomas' other side that he clearly didn't want sitting there.In this picture I sort of feel like Evans was trying to use telepathy to communicate with me his plan to get rid of this other child. Scary. Thankfully, he let it go and there was no major incident. Deaner and I have taken Evans to several of these bouncy places in the past and I have to say that he really could not have cared less about them. I think it might have had something to do with the not being able to walk issue we were having a few short months ago. When we arrived at the birthday party I was not particularly surprised to see this amount of enthusiasm from E. Like perhaps he might just sit angelically and watch the other children tearing the place to shreds. Thankfully after a bit of observation he threw caution to the wind and let loose.He attempted to walk in the bounce house using only his tongue for balance.He watched in awe as his friend Henry showed off his fancy moves (not the same kind of fancy that the girl in the red dress on The Bachelor displayed last week).However he did not try and imitate them considering he witnessed Henry's ultimate fate.Since this was the other shot that I happened to capture of Henry, I can sort of understand where Evans' hesitation came from.Henry was not afraid to take a nose dive (or two). Eventually, in the end, the bounce house got the best of Evans as well and brought out some maniacal and hysterical behavior.You could argue that this last one borders on psychotic. All and all I think that I can safely say that Evans had a great time at Thomas's birthday party and that he can finally enjoy places like Monkey Joe's.I'm afraid that if he and Henry played any harder Evans' cheeks would have caught fire and Henry would have become dehydrated due to profuse sweating from the head. I'd just like to say happy 3rd birthday COUSIN Thomas and thanks for inviting us, AUNT Jennifer! :)

Belly Laughing

I could listen to this laugh all day long. The fun didn't wear off for about 45 minutes. Round two will be after the afternoon nap!