Back from MN

It seems like we were JUST in Minnesota, but at the same time, it feels like we've already been home for a few weeks! Isn't that funny how time plays tricks on us?

We were "welcomed" home on Monday night (technically Tuesday morning at 2:45am) by a houseful of bugs. Those that came for the party were moths and cockroaches. Yep, we walked into our house in the wee hours of the morning and were greeted by dozens of fluttering moths and a few nasty roaches. G.R.O.S.S.

We have NO idea how it happened, since obviously our house was shut up and locked for 10 days while we were gone. At any rate, I put Charlie in the crib and checked his room for bugs before sealing his room off. Then, we put on our game faces and got in there. I tell you what, I've never seen such mad fly-swatting skills as I did that night! Matt should think about entering some amateur swatting competitions!! It wasn't funny at the time, but it is now that it's close to over.

Almost 2 hours after we got home, Matt and I finally crawled into bed around 4:30am, knowing that we got what we could at the time and that we were bound to find more later. Later that morning, we called our landlord and he explained about the moths. (I validated his story by calling a pest control business.) Apparently, there's some kind of moth migration that happens in and around Canon, where the moths hatch at lower elevations and then flee to higher elevations. In that transition time between hatching and getting ready to migrate, they take over and get in houses, cars, you name it. Had we been here, we probably could have managed it by killing a dozen here, a dozen there. Since we weren't, they took over. We probably killed 50-60 moths in the house that night (at least 15 more Tuesday night, a dozen more during a 3am ambush attack early Wednesday morning, and a few more here and there ever since). Whoa. I'm going to call the Canon City Chamber of Commerce and suggest they put the moth information in their relocation packet - something to the effect of "spring welcomes a modern-day reinactment of the plague, but with moths instead of locusts." Think they'll go for it?! :)

As far as the cockroaches go, we've killed a few in here in the past, but Matt was kind enough to let me believe they were just HUGE beetles instead of roaches. (I'm serious. It's good that I didn't know that they were roaches until now. Apparently, Matt has a coworker who lived in this part of town and had a real cockroach problem due to the proximity to the hogbacks. I feel marginally better knowing that we don't have an all-out problem. Yet.) I have no idea how they're getting in, and it's not a huge problem, but a half a dozen (total) cockroaches in your house is still disturbing. Especially when one is on your kitchen counter. Nasty. Matt's been spraying the exterior of the house about once a month for the past few months to try to ward them off, but I think we're going to have to set out some kind of roach bait. It's kinda like mice - you want them dead, or at least not in your house, but do you really want to bait them to bring them in only to have to kill them? We'll try the roach powder (obviously only in areas that Charlie can't ever get to) and see what happens.

Welcome home, huh?

Oh, and does anyone want to come visit us now? Don't be scared away by the bugs. We've since put up bug netting in the guest room. Just kidding.

New Tooth!

Charlie popped another molar through this weekend! It was the one on the top right. The top left one came in about a month ago. His total tooth count is now up to 10!

Total Score!!

This morning we went to a health and safety fair at the hospital in town. I had heard that they were giving away some sweet things, so I wanted to make sure to attend. It was totally worth it! We arrived around 9:15, got registered, and headed over to the bike safety booth where they were giving away free bike helmets. I wasn't sure if they had one small enough for Charlie, because the ad did say that the fair was for kids 2-14, but knowing the size of Charlie's head, we went for it - and walked away with a new blue bike helmet! For free! The best part is that it has additional padding you can add in or take out so it will last longer.

In addition to the sweet bike helmet, we also scored a convertible car seat! Again, for free! The fair was featuring a car seat safety check of your existing car seat, and then the volunteers were installing the new seats in the cars, just to make sure they were in properly. We found out that Charlie's car seat was too loose (but we pulled as hard as we could on those straps!), AND we found out where the top hook part of the latch system goes - way back near the hatch and up on the ceiling. Who knew!? Guess owner's manuals are good for something. :) At any rate, we came home with Charlie's existing car seat installed more safely AND a brand new one. Total score!

They had other booths there, but the other things were mostly geared toward older kids. We did get a pretty sweet reusable bag from the WIC booth, complete with a Cheerios sample and a little chef rubber duckie. It was a fun little outing!

Funny - I walked over to the car seat area and approached a person dressed up like a crash test dummy, wanting to know more info on the car seats. She handed me a pamphlet. I asked her, "What's this," (meaning, what kind of info is in the pamphlet?). She replied, "It's a pamphlet." Oh. Ok, thanks. I wasn't sure about that. (Insert uber-sarcasm.) In my head, I was thinking, way to put the dummy in crash test dummy!

Not That Girl

I went to the movies tonight by myself. Yep, myself. It was fun! And way cheaper than getting a babysitter and dragging Matt to a girlie movie.

FYI: I wasn't one to go to the bathroom in groups, either. I can do things alone and be fine with it.

Happy Mother's Day

What a super fun weekend! It was one of those kind where I felt a little sad on Sunday night because the weekend was over. But there are many more fun ones to come!

Matt worked only a few hours on Friday morning, which worked out perfectly because I think I was on the phone with my sister the entire time he was gone. :) During Charlie's nap time, Matt and I got to spend some really great time together - just us. It was so nice! We were invited over to a friend's house for dinner that night and had a good time visiting over yummy food. Saturday involved a craft fair, parade, a bbq at a different friend's house and a work party that evening. Saturday (actually the whole weekend) was the Blossom Festival, Canon City's annual summer kick-off. It was so busy around town! There was an excited energy with all that was going on, and the weather was truly great for it. Upper 80's, hot and sunny. (As proof in the above picture. Yes, that's Charlie. The person holding him invented a new race - red. My own fault.) We went to church on Sunday and came home where Matt and Charlie gave me a new pair of Chaco flips, a pot of gerber daisies, and a card for Mother's Day! Yay! We went to another craft fair and spent about an hour and a half lounging in the park, in the shade and on the lush grass. It was so wonderful! (Side note: our rental house doesn't have a yard - rock/zero-scaping in the front and dirt with about 100 blades of grass in the back. Guess we'll be hitting the park a lot this summer!) Matt completed our fun day by making calzones for dinner. It was such a wonderful weekend. Did I mention how fun it was?! :)

Today has been busy getting our house back together and cleaned up. I can't tell you the last time I dusted - and now with the windows open, it's going to become a daily task. Laundry is being done, floors are being vacuumed (NOT Charlie's hand this time), surfaces are being wiped, showers are being scrubbed, and I am loving it! I rarely do housework like this on the weekends, but since our fun weekend is over, I hit it hard today. I love that feeling of being able to see accomplishments while I work and crossing things off a list! I'm excited to show off my hard labor to Matt when he gets home tonight! Yes, the simplest things make me happy. :)

So Happy Mother's Day to me! Ok, and you, too. I have a sweet husband who loves me (and I'm crazy about, too!). I have a little boy who brings so much love, laughter and joy into my life. I am very blessed.

My Marathon Man

My husband has more discipline than probably anyone else I know. And it's a quality that I'm totally jealous of.

Since January, Matt has diligently gotten up well before sunrise to go out running. 5 days a week, you can find him in his running gear hitting the pavement all over town. Mondays and Wednesdays are his days for medium-long runs, Tuesdays and Thursdays are shorter, faster runs, and Saturdays are the long, double-digit mile runs. This weekend will be his longest run yet and his final long run before the marathon in a few weeks. The week before the race, he'll "take it easy" with a 13-mile run. You know, just to keep his muscles loose and ready.

I cannot tell you how proud I am of Matt. He sets the alarm for 5:30, sneaks out the back door, and takes of into the darkness. Upon returning, he quietly shuts bedroom doors and busies himself getting ready to head to work. His clothes are hung on the clothesline on the patio. He makes a mocha. He sets out our container garden to soak up the sunshine. When he's finished with his morning routine, he sneaks into our bedroom and kisses me goodbye - yep, right on the mouth, morning breath and all. And then, just like that, he heads to work.

When Matt crosses that finish line in a few weeks, I know he will be proud of himself for sticking to this committment and following through. I know he will be proud of his race time. I know he will be proud of every step of the last 26.2 miles. And he should be. Because he's just completed a marathon.

To Sleep or Not To Sleep...

For the last two days, Charlie has taken strange naps! Yesterday, we had a playdate with a friend and her two kids (3 1/2 and 1 1/2) who did a good job wearing Charlie out! After they left, I flipped on Rachael Ray (for the cooking part which is the last 20 minutes). Charlie was reading books, but then started to get a little whiny. I fetched his pacifier and pulled him into my lap. Not 3 minutes later, he fell asleep right there in my arms! Precious! Unfortunately, I had all of his crib bedding in the wash, so I couldn't lay him down in the crib. I was stuck holding him. Darn. :) Matt came home for lunch about a half hour later, set up the pack n play, and I laid my sleeping prince down, figuring that he would wake up and then not take another nap the rest of the day. He proved me wrong and slept for almost 2 hours!

Today, we went to MOPS (9-11am), and then ran a quick errand way on the northeast part of town. Of course, Charlie fell asleep about 6 blocks from our house. I carried him into the house, thinking that he would perk up since we were out of the car. False. He snuggled his head into my shoulder and acted like he would have stayed there for hours. Well, I took a chance and laid him down - at 11:30 and without any lunch. With yesterday's episode fresh in my mind, I really didn't think he would take a good nap two days in a row like that, but he definitely proved me wrong! 2 hours and 45 minutes later, Charlie woke up, happy as a lark! This lunch-at-2:00pm thing is a little strange though, so I'm hoping to resume our regular schedule tomorrow. I guess sometimes Charlie knows best!