This Job is Tough

I have been contemplating a whiny blog post for about a week now, but can't quite come up with the words because when we have a bad day with Holden or a bad couple days in a row, then he seems to snap out of it. And despite my complaining below, it is still awesome to see him explore his environment and watch how much he is learning both in his speech and motor skills. It's sweet to see how exciting little things are to him, like putting his shoes on (the highlight of his morning).

But I will say, that sometimes its really tough being a mom. I think we are in the beginnings of the "terrible twos". He has had a language explosion but we still only understand about 1/2 of what he tries to tell us. So, when we don't understand he has a fit and gets frustrated and we try to stay calm but the whole situation tends to melt down for a bit.

Secondly, he is really starting to assert his independence and we are having to do some disciplining and its hard to explain to a bawling 21 month old why he can't have a cookie for dinner. And timeouts are more of a nightmare than the initial reason for the timeout. Someone explain to me why putting a bawling toddler in timeout and trying to keep him there for a minute is a good idea. Because right now, the minute is just as long for us as it is for him.

I'm not giving up because I don't want a poorly mannered, terror of a kid. But man is it tough sometimes to not give in just to stop the crying and whining. I will say I'm still lucky not to have a kid that holds his breath and throws a kicking screaming writhing on the floor temper tantrum (yet).

On a lighter note, here are some Santa photos. I will say that going to see Santa is a total racket, you stand in line for 1 hour minimum and then dish out at least $20 for the smallest photo package and Santa didn't even say anything to Holden while he was on his lap. But the photos are cute and I will be visiting Santa every year and dishing out the $20 plus bucks until Holden thinks its stupid (which I suspect will be somewhere between the ages of 11 and 13).

Santa 2009

Santa 2010

This is what happens on the weekends

Here is what we did all weekend, a bushel of tomatoes and 3 lbs of hot peppers...

This many tomatoes makes10 pints of crushed tomatoes, taking all day on Saturday to can, or

6 half-pint jars of tomato sauce, taking all of Sunday morning to can. Thinking that I might not do tomato sauce again next year. The yield doesn't seem worth it. What do you think?

3 lbs of pickled banana peppers and jalapenos

While I canned veggies all weekend, this is what Dad and Holden did:
Holden pulled his chair into the living room this morning to watch Sunday morning cartoons with Dad

Holden watching music videos with Dad on the computer.

Seems like the had the easier weekend :)

100 posts

Just like missing when my car hit 100,000 miles in May, I missed when I reached my 100th post. I will tell you I'm really surprised that I have stuck to the blog. I don't consider myself a writer in any stretch of the imagination, and I am usually a bit out of my comfort zone to talk about myself and our life in a semi-public forum. I say semi-public, because I think I have like 5 readers including my parents. However, I love that I have been able to document our first year plus with Holden and I kind of use the blog as a baby book because God knows the actual baby book hasn't been written in since he was like 4 months old.

So for my 5 fans, thanks for sticking with me. And just for fun, here is a sneak peak of Holden's 1 year photos. I can't wait to get the rest of them.

This is my favorite one so farI love Jeremy and Holden in this one, its very typical for both of themCan I say "cute baby"

Credit where Credit is Due: Photos by Blue Sky Studios, Inc.

Summertime

Trip to the beach for Memorial day, and first camping trip of the season. Here is what I would like to convey.

2009 Beach Trip

Memorial Day 2010What a difference a year makes. Holden loved the water until a wave took both him and me out at the shoreline.

The jury is still out on 2010

January 2010 has not been a stellar month for the Taylor house by any means. There have been some really great things that have happened this first month of the new decade but there have also been some really devastating things. We'll start with the good.

• Holden started crawling while my mom was here. It was pretty neat that someone else was here (besides Jeremy and I) to see such a milestone since we dislike that we are so far away from all of our family.
• Holden is pulling himself up onto things and starting to walk along furniture. We already lowered the crib to the lowest setting. Purpose for the quick crib setting change: Holden learned to pull up on stuff Friday. Sunday we find him standing up bawling in the crib and trying to step on the bumpers. Quick study.
• Holden has figured out the sippy cup finally and he has learned to accept some texture in his meals without gagging anymore. Two very big pluses for mom.
  

Now for the not so good, well the really bad.

• Malachi passed away a couple weeks ago as you might already know from an earlier post
• Our home was burglarized on Friday. The punks didn't take much but the feeling of helplessness and violation is hard to get over. Not to mention the pissed off angry feeling.
  

Even though the beginning of 2010 has really tested our stress levels and resilience, I am forever grateful and thankful for my wonderful husband and beautiful baby boy and very supportive friends and family. I'd share a cute photo but the ass wipe that broke into my home stole the camera.