A 3 year olds fashion sense. In 95 degree heat.

Any of you that live in Wisconsin - or nearby - surely felt the heat last week. The temps were around 95, and it felt like 100 or so. Lucky for us, we do not have air conditioning in our house... just an old window A/C unit that only has enough power to cool down one room - our dining room. I actually had to take sleeping pills one night to get to sleep because I was one big giant ball of sweat. This brings me to Matthew and his idea of staying cool. As in "I'm awesome, Mom".
Wednesday and Thursday of last week, he wakes up, sees what his Daddy Drew is wearing to work (casual jeans and a polo shirt with dress shoes) and decides that that is what he must wear to "match". I looked at the thermostat in our house... it reads 82. I'm in tiny shorts and a tank top and I'm sweating at 8am. I mention to Matthew that Mommy would like him to stay cool because it's so hot out. Matthew does not like this answer and therefore proceeds to melt down, whine, cry, and pout because he is adament about wear HIS jeans, polo shirt and black dress shoes (and don't let me forget the white undershirt either). This goes on for an hour each morning.... with both of us getting upset. Finally, I give in (both times) after there's a dozen shirts and pants balled up on the floor. However, I tell him that he can wear his "Daddy Drew outfit" only in the house and that once we leave, he needs to wear his tank top and shorts. He reluctantly agrees, and proceeds to sweat through his 2 shirts, jeans and black dress shoes - yet telling me that he is "cold". Once Friday arrived, and the same scenario starts to unfold, I just let him do it his way, and tell myself "Pick your battles, Liz. The hour long outfit battle the last two days was enough for you." Drew finds it very endearing, and humorous. And the game of "Daddy Drew Idol" goes on...

Summer is here!

I just got the mail today. And I had a wonderful note from my sister-in-law, Melanie, waiting for me. Melanie is so good at writing and sending notes and photos to people... one of her many qualities that makes her so great. Her words of support brought me to tears. Not because it made me sad, but because she cares so much... for me, for Matthew and for her brother. I've met a lot of people and been a part of more than a few families in my 27 years of life - and after all of these experiences to take me where I am today, I feel so blessed to have a sister-in-law like her (they don't all come like that, believe me!). All of Drew's family members are so loving, caring and supportive and they have welcomed me (and all my baggage) with open arms. Heck, they'll even let me vent from time to time...

My new job... it's fantastic! I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to handle working in a busy store, but after working 3 days, I absolutely love it! I'm having so much fun helping customers pick out outfits for their toddler's photo shoots, and even chatting with them as I check them out. And let me tell you, the fall line that will come out in mid-July is AWESOME. Little boys clothes keep getting better - thank god! I told Drew that Matthew will be even better dressed now... thanks to that fat 30% discount!

I'm really looking forward to this week. Matthew comes back in 5 hours (not that I'm counting or anything...) and I have lots of fun things planned. Splash pad with friends, waterpark with the Carraro's, storytime at the library, and hopefully some strawberry picking with his cousins. It'll be a short week with him, as he heads to Florida with his dad and new step-mom on Friday night. But I have a big baby shower to help my mom out with on Saturday for my baby cousin, Kati - who is due in September. With so much to do, I'm sure it'll go fast... but that's what summer is all about, right?

Emotions!

I have to admit, my emotions have been running seriously high lately. I'm not sure if it's Matthew's changing schedule for the summer, adding more responsibility to my plate with getting a part time job at The Children's Place, or missing my husband from the countless hours he has been spending at class, or preparing for class, or studying for class or doing homework for class. All are certainly valid reasons, I'm sure, but the last couple of days, I'll just get teary eyed and not really understand why. There's nothing horrible going on in my life right now, and I truly feel satisfied and happy at where I am today.
For instance, I was just vacuuming and dusting Matthew's room as part of my "every-other-Tuesday-clean-like-a-mad-woman-routine"; I grabbed a handful of his clothes and towels he used yesterday to throw in the laundry. As I inhaled the sweet smell of his baby sunblock still on his "dirty" clothes, I started crying. I miss my little boy. People often ask me how in the world I go 6 or 7 days in a row without seeing my son. I usually always respond with something along the lines of "I've been doing it for so long now, that it doesn't really bother me." Well, I guess I wouldn't consider that the whole truth. Although it really doesn't get much harder, it really doesn't get any easier either. It's also been really hard to see Drew say goodbye to Matthew. My husband isn't an emotional person, but the look in his eyes when he gives Matthew that final hug and kiss for the week pains me. Don't get me wrong, Drew and I take advantage of our "child-free" days by going out together and relaxing a bit more - but it's obvious that we both feel that something is missing when he isn't here. We talk about him. ALOT. :-)
I'm looking forward to having more things to occupy my time while he's gone, and while Drew goes to school - and my part time job at The Children's Place should do just that. I start Wednesday afternoon - wish me luck! It's been a while since I worked in retail!

Need. To. Blog.

I've realized that I haven't posted much since starting this blog... I'm vowing now to do it once a week. With the weeks that Matthew is here, I hardly get enough time to sit and really think about things, let alone catch a moment to myself. I really just need to pick a day to blog and do it. So I will. However, I may need a couple reminders here and there...

Allergy shots, BBQ's and waterfalls...

So, I've had quite an eventful past few days.
On Friday, Matthew and I went in to get my weekly allergy shot. After waiting for 30 minutes, and only having a small welt where they injected the shot, they let us go home. However, a few short minutes later, as we were walking to our car, I started to feel nauseous, then began wheezing and then I started gasping for air. Once we were in the car, I knew something was not right as I struggled to get a good breath into my lungs. Trying to stay calm for Matty, I told him that Mommy needed to go get help from the Doctor. As the seconds went on, breathing became more difficult. Thankfully, we were only in the parking lot - once I got inside there was panic among the receptionists. Once my Doctor got me into a room, they immediately gave me an epi shot. It was one of the most terrifying experiences. Not being able to breathe and having my 3 year old son there watching everything. He didn't cry, but he kept asking me "Mommy, what happened?" After an hour of lying down and making sure the reaction was under control, the staff let me go home. I was meeting Kati, Gage and "Sparkles" for lunch and was eager to get home to see them. Once I got there, I felt my face getting beet red and having this warm sensation all over my body. We decided to head out to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory where we met my sister and Julia. Throughout lunch, my entire body broke out in a horrible rash. I was itchy, hot and stuffy. I called my Doctor and, again, I had to head into his office, where they gave me another epi shot, some steriods and some antihistamines. After being sent home I, again, broke out into another (smaller) rash and took more antihistamines to try and avoid another epi shot or hospital visit. Thankfully it worked, and all I felt the rest of the night was extreme exhaustion. Enough drama on a Friday for me!
Sunday afternoon we went over to my good friend Shannon's house for a BBQ and met another really nice couple with 3 little girls of their own. Matthew played with his buddy Laith and met his new friends (taking a liking to the 4 year old girl - he's such a flirt!). It was a beautiful afternoon, albeit chilly, it was great to spend time with friends. Another reason why I love living here so much - I've met some of the coolest people!
On Monday, it got up to 80 degrees here by noon, so I thought it'd be a great afternoon to (finally) take Matty to the Bayshore waterfalls to play in. Before heading over there, we decided to visit Drew at work. By 2:30 the temperature had dropped about 20 degrees, and by the time we got to the waterfalls, it was freeeeeeeezing. Matthew was so cold and so disappointed that he just melted down and sobbed about wanting to play in the waterfalls... then about missing his Daddy Drew. Poor kid. Well, there's always next week, Matty...