Baby Life Week 46: Mother's Day

This week started off with my first Mother's Day weekend.  After sitting in church just two years ago and fighting a losing battle to hold back tears as all the moms stood and I mourned the loss from our miscarriage just two weeks prior, it was finally my turn to celebrate the opportunity that God has given me this past year: to be a Mom.  There truly is no greater job in the world.  Sure there are days that it is also the toughest, most demanding, exhausting and stressful job, but even on those days it is also the most rewarding, joyous, fun and loving.  I am thankful every second to have Asher in my life.

That said, Eric and I really needed some time out on our own.  Don't get me wrong, I love being a mom, but I also love being Eric's wife and a date night with a 10 month old, really isn't much of a date at all.  Thankfully, my mom gave me a wonderful Mother's Day gift to remedy this issue.  I don't know if she intended for it to be that (a gift), or if she just wanted to see her grandbaby, but to us it was an amazing gift!  On Saturday morning, my mom drove down from Michigan to visit us and babysit Asher while Eric and I enjoyed some time to ourselves.  She got here just before noon, so we enjoyed a tasty lunch at Chili's.  Afterward, we came back home and she took Emma and Asher for a walk (there were no babies hurt this time) while Eric and I enjoyed an awesome nap!  Then, Mom, Asher & Emma stayed home to play together, while Eric and I went out.  

We headed up to Racine thinking that we were going to go to Chuck E. Cheese.  Back in the day (before we were even dating), we went there together with friends.  Eric and our friend Kevin were determined to get me to go out and do something fun with them, but I wasn't really sure that I wanted to.  They told me that I could pick any place I wanted to go, so Chuck E. Cheese was my choice.  I thought when they heard my answer that they would back out, but they didn't and that night I saw the boy that I married for the first time.  He wasn't the obnoxious boy that I had seen in studio, but a big kid; fun & playful.  From that time on, we became friends and the rest (with some other drama mixed in) is history.  Anyway, since that time we have gone back to the kids' play restaurant a few times on dates and had a blast.  However when we got there last weekend, we realized that a lot had changed since we'd been there last (8 or so years ago).  For one, we had changed and are now in our early-thirties instead of mid-twenties.  But also, all of the games had changed. The fun games that required actual physical movement were gone and have been replaced by video games.  It is now like Game Works for babies, and for that reason held no interested to us (other than ski-ball, but there is only so much of that you can play).  Thus, we left Chuck E. Cheese and instead headed over to the pet store.  What better way to spend a date than looking at puppies, right? :)

Eric & I with our friends Jessica & Kevin at Chuck E. Cheese (December 2000)

Eric & Kevin at Chuck E. Cheese (December 2000)

Me at Chuck E. Cheese (December 2000)

The pet store was fun for a bit, although we realized that we got an amazing deal on Emma.  All of the dogs there cost at least twice as much as she did, and one was over $3,500!!  I cannot imagine spending that much on a dog, and we even have a pure-bred Westie!

After the pet store, we headed back to Kenosha to go bowling.  I had not been bowling in years, and I don't think that we have ever gone bowling together without a bunch of other people.  We had a really great time.  For $25, we got to bowl as much as we wanted for 1 hour.  At the end of our third game, we realized our time was running out, but decided to go for one more (knowing we probably wouldn't be able to finish).  To get as far as we could, we bowled as fast as possible (Eric noted that bowling faster, so there was less thinking involved, actually made me bowl better).  We ended up making it almost to the end of the 4th game.  I was able to finish and Eric bowled his 10th frame, but got a spare at the end.  He was not able to try and pick up extra points from the spare, as time ran out!

Look at that form!

Me assessing the situation.

Our final scores at the end of 4 games.

After bowling, we headed to Culver's to end our date and get a treat to bring home to Grandma as payment for babysitting! :)  When we got home with the treats, I found this:

It warms my heart to see Asher's grandparents lovin' on him...although I do find it interesting that it seems like he always ends up having less clothes on whenever I leave him with one of them for any amount of time.

Eric brought Asher home a straw...he was happy about it! :)  Like father,, like son.

Video: Mom playing with Asher

On Sunday, it was actually Mother's Day.  We enjoyed a relaxing morning with Mom.  Eric & Asher had very nice cards and gifts for me (I found out later that Eric had a goal with his homemade card to make me cry...although he didn't succeed, it was close.).  With Eric's help, Asher & Emma decorated a pot for me with their hand and paw prints and filled it with lovely Gerber Daisies (one of my favorites!).  From Eric, I got a promise for a massage at the Grand Geneva Resort followed by a fun family day in Lake Geneva...I am looking forward to that!  We also gave Mom her gift, which was a family tree that I made for her.  After gifts, we had some Skype time with Dad, and then Eric treated Mom & I to Belgium waffles with Strawberies & Whip Cream...another favorite of mine!  Once we'd finished breakfast and cleaned ourselves up, we went to church, where Mom & I each received a rose, and then it was time to say goodbye to our guest.  Thanks for coming Mom!

Asher helping me to read my Mother's Day cards.

Mom opening her gift.

The Klingenmaier Family Tree

Mom, Asher & I at church.

Me & My Boy!

On Wednesday, Asher & I enjoyed our typical day home together.  It was a busy day, but a good one.  We started the morning off with a trip to the grocery store to get what we needed for dinner that evening.  Then most of the rest of the day was spent trying to make food while trying to keep Asher out of trouble.  He did surprisingly well, but I did have to wash his hands three times after catching him playing in Emma's water bowl.  For part of the time, I entertained Asher while I cooked with some food to munch on.  He tried raw tomatoes and cucumber for the first time.  I am not sure that he liked the tomatoes because he gave me a lot of funny faces as he ate them, but he did eat them so they couldn't have been that bad.

Video: Asher eating tomatoes

After I had dinner ready and waiting to be baked (I made Beautiful Baked Ziti), Asher, Emma and I went for a walk to enjoy the beautiful day.  Asher was a pretty happy boy and especially enjoyed the fact that he had something to chew on the entire time.

When we got home from our walk, Asher took a nap, then he enjoyed some time at the Schmitt's house while I went to the dentist (thank you for watching him Susan!), and then we came back home to get dinner in the oven and get ready for our exciting evening ahead.  Once dinner was nice and hot and Eric was home from work, we packed everything and everyone up and headed over the Jen and Stephen Wohlers' condo to meet their new little guy William.  We enjoyed our Italian dinner with them, got to hear their stories of labor, delivery and new parenthood, and best of all we got to meet and hold William.  He slept pretty much the entire time, but was adorable while he did it! :)

Baby William & I

Eric, Asher, William & I

Eric & William

On Thursday, I came home from work with Asher and set him down in the kitchen.  Before I knew it, he had opened up the cabinet and was pulling pots and lids out to play with and bag on.  Ironically, I was just telling Erika last week that Asher hasn't been interested in the cabinets or pots yet.  Oh how quickly things change with a baby in the house!

Video: Asher in the cabinet

Finally, on Friday we closed out the week with some good family time at home after work.  Eric and Asher goofed around at the Jumperoo and then Asher enjoyed some time in the Johnny Jump Up in the basement while Emma ran around after the laser pointer.  Simple fun, but good times!

Video: Asher playing with Daddy

To end this post, I will say that life as a Mom is great, but definitely different.  My time is no longer my own.  It is shared with my husband and Asher, which Asher getting about 95% of it.  Because of that fact, getting the projects that we used to spend much of our time on done is almost impossible.  Recently though, I have had a bit of Spring Fever or something and I have been trying to tackle as many little things as I can.   One of those was finally putting together the photo collage wall that I've wanted to do for a few years in the living room.  Eric's sister gave me some shelves from Crate & Barrel a couple of years ago for Christmas and they have sat in our closet for over a year.  Now, they are finally up.  I bought one more shelf to go with, printed some pictures from our photography sessions with Jen Prouty Photography and made our own family tree.  Here is the end result:

I need to fix the matting for the tree, but here it is.  I have made four of them now (1 for Aaron & Eric, 1 for Mom & Dad, 1 for Julie & Dave, and 1 for us).  Ours is a bit different though.  You can't see it very well in this picture, but there is a little bird flying in the upper left corner to represent the baby I miscarried, and also a cut-out of Emma at the base of the tree...Our Whole Family!

A few other projects that we've been working on since Asher entered our lives:

After having plywood as a countertop for half of the kitchen for over three years, we finally splurged and bought new countertops.  I also got a new faucet and an undermount sink (which I love...so much cleaner!) and we tiled the backsplash.

We also have been working to remodel the basement.  I was hoping we'd have it finished by Asher's birthday, but being that is only 6 weeks away and we just started furring out the basement walls (we had to water-proof them first), I doubt it will get done...although Eric is pretty determined!