Everyday Life as a Family of Three

My last entry was for Easter - mid-April 2012 - which meant we were only a few weeks away from the anxiously awaited arrival of our baby girl.  Exciting, right?!  Before I get to that, I wanted to take a few minutes to remember life as a family of three.  We use the nice camera for special occasions, when we know there will be photo opportunities, but looking through the photos Tommy and I took with our phones, you really start to get a sense of our everyday life.  Of course, all of the pictures are of Jack, but really, Tommy and I are not that exciting.  So what exactly does the everyday life of Jack Mhire, the 2 year old look like.  Well, other than hanging out with his friends at daycare on a regular basis during the week:

He watches TV.  He hadn't yet learned the wonders of Netflix on the iPad, but Jack was definitely developing a fondness for watching TV and movies.  Occasionally.  As much as Mom and Dad would allow.  Here he is intently watching Cars on the big screen in the media center:

Already mastered Dad's lounging pose:

Of course, he played.  Like every good 2 year-old should.  Here's the little guy in his Superman PJs playing with his fancy car from Momom and Popop:

Even things that aren't toys are fun - cup tower in the kitchen!!

What a big boy - pulling his wagon all by himself!

Of course, when we were home, we ate.  Some nights were cleaner than others.  On this night, he decided to make soup with his water and spaghetti.  He's always cute, but unfortunately not always well behaved :)

 

Whatever this was, I guess it was good...

Cavatappi and meat sauce - one of his favorites!

Yum - Pizza!!

Getting older - learning to eat with his silverware:

He also ate out at restaurants - usually manners were a little better in public.  At Chick-fil-a:

Coloring the kiddie menu at Fireside Pies:

Blue Goose - my first meal out after a VERY long busy season!

After school - Jack liked to pretend to drive Daddy's car.  We're so in trouble...

Jack also had fun after hours at daycare.  For a while, his favorite phrase was "That's not very nice."  Each day after school he would have a story about someone not sharing, biting, kicking or some other toddler no-no.  The story was always followed by "That's not very nice, right Mommy?"  Sweet boy.

One Friday night, we took advantage of Parent's Night Out at daycare and caught a movie.  We got back to daycare around 10pm or so to find Jack, Jacob and Tigger all hanging out under the table:

They also had a spring carnival at daycare in April.  Unfortunately, we didn't take many pictures.  They had painting on a giant mural hung on the back fence, bounce houses, bubbles, craft projects and even a petting zoo!  We spent a fair amount of time in the petting zoo with the chicks, bunnies and goats, even though Jack was not too fond of the goats.  To this day, he still talks about the goat that ate Mommy's hair "just a little bit."  Here are Daddy and Jack feeding the animals:

More often than not, our little guy acted like the 2 year-old he was, saying and doing things that made us laugh hysterically, even when we shouldn't, being a goofball and generally making the Mhire house a better place.  First birthday hat and dino nose cover from the nebulizer...ok....

Hanging out in the dog bed.  Sorry Max and Albert.

Cool dude in Daddy's horribly tacky sunglasses.

And finally, a picture he will hate me for when he gets older.  Helping to clean up a dog accident, in only Mommy's high heels and a diaper.  Love you, Jack!

Easter Fun

April 2012

Jack really got into Easter egg hunting this year.  That might have had something to do with the fact that everytime he opened one, it seemed to be filled with something delicious called candy.  He doesn't usually get much candy at home, so this was huge, and very exciting! 

At school, each child brings 10 eggs, filled with goodies and each class takes turns having an easter egg hunt on the playground.  Tommy and I headed up to school for Jack's classes big hunt.  You would've thought I would have learned last year, but from now on I will remember NOT to put any of the lovely foil wrapped eggs in our plastic eggs.  April weather in Texas is already much too hot, and soupy chocolate eggs and 2 year olds don't mix! :)

Here is the playground before the hunting began:

As you can see, there were so many eggs right in the center of the playground, but Jack preferred to stay along the wall.  Not as many eggs, but no competition either, I guess.  Smart boy.

Just like last year, he tended to forget he had a basket and see how many eggs he could carry in his hands:

Here's the whole groovy group from Suite 300 - (bottom row) Logan, Mikayla, Reese, Jack, Zachariah, Connor and Ella (top row) Charlie, ??? and Daniel

The next day, our Easter egg hunting pro headed to cousin Lincoln's house in Fort Worth for a neighborhood egg hunt.  Before the hunt, there were a few Easter crafts to do, but the boys' favorite things were the fake tattoos, without a doubt! They both were mezmerized by each others cool new body art - I don't think Jack stopped holding up the leg of his shorts until the egg hunt began.

Coloring Easter eggs (Jack still checking out the tattoo on his hand!) :)

The Easter egg hunt began.  There were a lot of bigger kids at this hunt, so Jack was a little overwhelmed and didn't get too many eggs.  I found that both my competitive spirit and my protective Mama sides came out.  While Jack was happy with half plastic eggs and a couple of melted chocolates, I found myself wanting to run around and fill his basket with eggs, at the same time angry at that "mean" 5 year old who ran in front of Jack and grabbed the egg he was heading for.  Yes, I'm going to have to watch myself as he grows up, or I could be that mom.

Of course, we had another egg hunt at our house on Easter morning, but we didn't get any pictures.  For several weeks after Easter, Jack was obsessed with his candy stash.  The minute we'd get in the car to come home from daycare, he'd be asking for an egg.  I think we're in for it when Halloween rolls around this year!

Texas Bluebonnets

April, 2012

Each spring, North and Central Texas are covered with wildflowers, especially bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas.  Parents flock to the bluebonnet fields with their kids and cameras.  I think it's a requirement to be a Texas parent.  Just like last year, I had idyllic visions of my smiling son sitting calmly in the field of bluebonnets, smiling angelically.  Instead, these were our best shots of the day as we chased him around the field of flowers.

 

 

 

 

Here we go - sweet boy sitting in the bluebonnets:

Again this year, Tommy managed to get a pretty good shot of Mommy and Jack:

Finally, we didn't do a very good job of taking belly shots of me during this pregnancy, so this is one of the few shots you'll see - Mommy and baby girl at about 8 months pregnant:

Spring School Pictures

Spring 2012

A professional photographer comes to Jack's daycare twice a year and takes photos of each of the kids, complete with cheesy backdrops and props.  Last fall, I was really disappointed in the pictures.  I didn't buy any of them, and if you know me, you know that must mean they were pretty bad.  So when spring pictures rolled around, I really wasn't expecting much, but to my surprise, I loved them!  Yes, the boat and ocean backdrop are definitely on the cheesy side, but Jack looks so adorable that I had to buy all three photos (even though I think they are cropped versions of the same photo!).

I can't believe how grown up he looks, and his "Uncle Greg" shirt is one of my favorites!

My Little Worker Bee

February 2012

The frequency of blog-worthy happenings and pictures in the Mhire household always drops dramatically in January and February as another dreaded busy season rolls around.  2012 was definitely no exception.  Somehow, this year managed to be one of the most draining ones yet.  I worked 70-90 hour weeks from the second week in January through the end of March and even pulled an all-nighter at 7 months pregnant.  Not cool, I know.

If anything was good about those horrendous hours, at least most weekends I was able to work from home.  I would frequently spend most of the weekend holed up in my bedroom, taking breaks to eat meals and hug my boys.  I even forgot the extent to which my days were focused on work until my little 2 year old brought it home to me.  We had just finished breakfast on a Saturday morning and Jack grabbed his Winnie-the-Pooh "computer" and headed towards our bedroom stating "I have to work a little bit."  He headed into the bedroom and shut the door behind him.  When we opened it, this is what we found - just like Mommy.

Leave it to the toddler to remind me of what's really important in life.  Yes, that adorable face put a smile on mine, but it also made me realize that I needed to spend less time staring at the computer and more time hugging that little boy.  Now that I'm back to work after maternity leave, I have set a new goal to define the boundaries of my job a little better, know that I have to say "no" sometimes, and ensure that accounting doesn't consume my life.  While I want to have a successful career and get satisfaction from doing my job well, I don't want to look back and regret missing the everyday joys of seeing my kids grow up just to be sure an audit report gets issued on time.  It is uncharted territory for me, and I'm not exactly sure what the next year holds but I think its a step in the right direction.  Wish me luck!

Big Boy Bed!

February 2012

All signs pointed to the fact that that it was time:

1)  Jack had learned to climb out of his crib and, although it had lost its novelty, I was still a little nervous that he might fall while climbing out.

2)  Tommy's Mom was staging her house in Houston to sell and was ready to give Tommy the twin bed that he had slept on his whole life, as had his Dad before him.

3)  It was time to move the crib into the baby room and start decorating it for our new arrival.

So it was time for Jack to upgrade to a big boy bed.  Tommy's Dad met him in Houston to pick up Tommy's old bed and desk to move into Jack's room.  Since both of them had grown up with the bed, they were both so excited to pass it along to Jack.  Of course, we knew the theme of the room had to be the Disney Cars movie, so we went out to buy a Cars bedspread and a few accessories.  Cousin Lincoln graciously provided the cool rug.  After a few hours of hard work from Daddy and Poppy, the bed and desk were all set up!

 

Here's the little guy on his first night in his big boy bed.  He was so excited!

The first few nights went well, until he figured out that he could get out of bed.  The next few nights were a little bit of a struggle, with Jack coming out of his room more times than I care to remember.  I must admit, we used a technique learned from the Supernanny television show.  We took him back in his room once after that with hugs and a "goodnight, Jack."  The second time we were a little sterner - "time for bed, Jack."  Each time after that, we would just put him back in bed with no words.  Those couple of nights were extremely tiresome, but he eventually learned that he wasn't getting anywhere by coming out of his room.

Not too long after he moved into his big boy bed, Jack took a flashlight into bed with him one night.  A few minutes after we turned out the lights, we heard a shrill cry, followed by lots of tears.  Tommy rushed upstairs and asked what was wrong and Jack, still scared pointed to a wall of the room and said,  "There was a little boy in my room.  Over there!"  Tommy wasn't sure what he meant and was little unnerved.  He asked him if the little boy was still there, and Jack said no, and looked at Tommy like he was a little crazy.  I had an idea - maybe, with the flashlight turned on, Jack had seen his shadow.  Tommy turned off the lights and turned on the flashlight and asked Jack if his shadow against the wall was the little boy he had seen.  Sure enough, it was.  Jack was still a little freaked out, but we explained all about shadows to him and showed him that Mommy and Daddy had one too, he decided that his room was safe for sleeping.  For the next few days after that, we were pointing out our own shadows on the pavement as we walked into school, Max and Albert's shadows, and shadows of virtually everything else.  It's so fun to see his little mind working and learning.  He's growing up so fast!

Our First Christmas in Frisco

December 2011

After all of the Christmas celebrating we had already done, it was finally time for Christmas day.  We actually spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning quietly celebrating Santa's arrival as a family of three at our house in Frisco.  This was the first year that Jack began to understand and be excited about Christmas and it was so fun.  On Christmas Eve, we read The Night Before Christmas (and the Cajun and Texas versions) and set out our cookies and milk for Santa and carrot for Rudolph.  Do you think someone was excited?

Our Christmas tree was upstairs, but Santa left all of the presents with the stockings near the fireplace. 

Jack's main present on Christmas morning was a Rock and Roll Elmo, but as you can see, he had plenty of other goodies to open as well (Mom, Max and Albert helped a little :) ).

After we opened presents, it was time to clean up the house to welcome more family!on Christmas afternoon, we were joined by Nana, Papa, Aunt Brandi, Uncle Ryan and cousin Lincoln for more celebrations.  This is our cute little tree on the balcony upstairs:

We had a great time opening presents, watching the boys play together, and eating a delicious dinner.
Here's the whole group:

Papa made a cool Duplo tabletop to sit on top of Jack's play table.  So cool, and definitely a hit with our little builder, who got a ton of Duplos for Christmas!

We got Lincoln some Lincoln logs:

For dinner, Tommy made some yummy cranberry chicken, rice and salad and the McCarthy's brought a delicious Christmas cake.  Here we are with Baby Mhire #2.  It's hard to believe she'll be crawling around at Christmas time next year! 

Phew!  I think that is all of our Christmas celebrations.  Going back to write about them all makes me realize how lucky we are to be so close to all of our family and to get to see them all in this holiday season.  Merry Christmas!