Starting anew

Just trying to write this, I feel guilty and disappointed in myself.  I won't let it stop me, though, because I want to start fresh, restart my habits, and push through like a trooper.  Once I decided that I was going to go back to school, everything besides school and family just became mud - stuff that slowed me down and distracted me and had no purpose or value in the big picture.  Only after the semester ended and I sat down with no school work to distract me did I realize the absurdity of my evaluations.

For the sake of my own sanity, I defend my full concentration on school based on the fact that I am taking 6 classes each semester (including this Spring 2014) for a total of 18 credit hours which is pretty demanding.  Although I realized the disappointment I have in myself when I do nothing but family and school, I don't regret my choice to be fully immersed in my first semester back.  Walking away with a 4.0 GPA and the knowledge from my experience, I now know what luxuries I can afford and how to best balance my school/home/self life.

It's time to pay more attention to myself.  I know that can sound selfish, but it's not at all.  I dedicated  the last 3+ years to focusing on growing, birthing, and raising my amazing son and becoming a wife to my loving husband, wedding planning included.  Slowly, as Baby Fox continues to grow, Papa Fox and I are coming out of our shells and learning how to be ourselves and how to be married and how to be adults and parents all at the same time.  As the new year embarks, it seems I have so much to look forward to and I don't want to feel like I missed out or that I should have done more.

No one said this would be easy, and it certainly isn't at times, and yet, it can be so effortless at other times.  Regardless, I want to be a living example for my son and I want to be an amazing wife for my husband while simultaneously pursuing goals and achieving dreams for myself.  Giving attention to myself is for more than just myself because it's for my future, Baby Fox's future, Papa Fox's future, and for all the hopes and dreams that we all share as a family.

So I'm back.  To the best of my ability.  I may not be back often and I may not be the model citizen I had hoped to be when I started this journey some time ago, but I'm not giving up.  For now, that's all I need to get started.

Back to School!

Phew, it's been a pretty busy few months and I've been so not present (sorry!) as of late.  Between watching the babes, Papa Fox's promotions, the wedding, and getting everything ready for the beginning of the school year, things have been pretty crazy.

And...
I'm officially a student!!

Can you tell I'm excited?  I'm super stoked to be back in school, slowly beginning to get my bachelors in teaching starting with an AAT at Leeward Community College.  Whoo!

Adventures in Toddlerhood: Bishop Museum

Oh, the joys of childhood!  It has literally been years, maybe even more than a decade, since I went to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu, HI and so much has changed.  However, the things that haven't changed, are that it's tons of fun for kids of all ages and the planetarium is still totally awesome.

If ever you get the chance, I think their new science building is the favorite of those little toddlers you see above.  I've been lucky enough to have the chance to watch my gorgeous little niece for the next few weeks at my house with my son and they're a handful, but so amazing.  Today, we'll be going back to the Bishop Museum since Papa Fox purchased a family pass to the museum and we'll be having a play date with my bff and her 6 year old daughter.

Seriously, even we had fun at the museum as adults.  If you get a chance, there's an 11a showing at the planetarium that's for small children and we took two 2 year old children to watch it and it went off without a hitch.  It's a bit boring for adults (we almost fell asleep), but "In My Backyard" is a fun take on astronomy for the kiddos.

Adventures in Toddlerhood: Flutter Butterfly Pavilion

Oh my what a day it has been.  Children are so unpredictable, amazing, miraculous, time-consuming, adorable, and schedule-ruining.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

Have you been to a butterfly pavilion?!

If you ever get the chance, can I interject right now with a you should go! It's amazing for so many reasons and the kids (even the little kid inside you - you don't need children to fully enjoy it!) just absolutely surprise you.  Above is my gorgeous little niece admiring the monarch butterfly.

Today, we went to Flutter at the Pearlridge Mall in Aiea, HI that's going on until July 14th.  Considering the weekday, it was surprisingly busy.  We got there to buy tickets at noon and didn't get our showing scheduled until 1p, a whole hour later.  It was surprising to us, but maybe we were just being naive.

Baby Fox, contrary to the adorable picture above, was an absolute mess.  He was terrified of the butterflies; you would've thought they were stinging bees if you saw his reaction.  They give you the rules before you go in, one being not to swat at the butterflies or scream while inside and not to step on said butterflies (given, right?).  Could you guess that it's exactly what Baby Fox did?!  Yup, sure nuff.  Needless to say, I about had him in a little mommy-straight-jacket kind of thing (which may have caused him more trauma than I know) to keep him from stamping, slapping, and swatting the butterflies away.  Funny enough, the butterflies LOVED these kids, so it was a long and arduous process with Baby Fox.  But I digress.

Besides the insect invasion, I picked up my soon-to-be-sister-in-law and niece this morning to embark on the adventure that was today.  From a Starbucks run, potty successes (my nieces, not Baby Fox), a long and (unnecessarily) drawn out breakfast at Zippy's, and a quick peek at Petsmart to admire the animals, everything was so much more fun.  Having kids the similar age is just absolute heaven.  Oh, and we were able to squeeze in some shopping for my sister so she could get some local-casual clothes.  All in all, I'd stamp today with a SUCCESS!

Big Boy Bed : Bump in the night

So as it turns out, there were a few things I hadn't considered when we upgraded Baby Fox to his toddler bed.  Can you spot the difference?

Yep, that's a make-shift "bumper" over the headboard of the beautiful, painstaking bed that was the project from hell.  What I hadn't even thought to consider was how Baby Fox slept when he was in the pack 'n play - with his head smashed against the mesh "wall".  Whoops.

Now, we've padded the gorgeous wood bed frame around him to soften the blows he inevitably has against the headboard and rails.  Between his stuffed animals and the various pillows, the headboard seemed to be the most troublesome.  To solve that problem, I just got one of his old pack 'n play sheets (they're slightly cushioned, so yay!) and put it over the headboard.  Perfection!  The elastic fits across the top neatly and the extra just gets tucked between the frame and the mattress.  No more bumps (well, thumps, in his case) in the night!

Laptop Swap

Yesterday was pretty dismal when two very disappointing things were realized for Papa Fox.
1)  We completely miscalculated (by A LOT) his college graduation date, and
2)  His computer was kaput. Blue-screen-of-death done-zo. D-E-A-D.

How on earth we magically deleted an entire semester is beyond me.  Seriously, we overcompensated his graduation date by an entire semester and just realized it yesterday.  Don't ask me how because he had to correct me in all my optimism.  Shrug it off.

Then there was the laptop.  How or why is also beyond me.  Then again, it's not my computer, so I don't use it everyday and see the small annoying signs of despair like Papa Fox would, but still, it seemed so sudden.  Like a terrible accident.  Regardless, I know as well as Papa Fox that BSOD is never a good sign and usually not worth trying to fight, so we bought him a new laptop.

Here's my take on the whole situation.  This dead laptop (red one above) lasted three years, almost to the month.  Dead Red up there was given to him July of 2010 and here we are, June 2013, with the blue-screen-of-death.  All things considered, I feel like I expected more, but, I'm also an Apple addict (iLife all the way) and my laptop from which I'm communicating from was purchased in 2007.  Granted, my laptop is completely behind in software (by two upgrades, I know, I cry...) and the CD drive crapped out just days after my two year applecare expired, but, still very much alive!  So maybe that skews my expectations a bit.

Lucky for us (I think, anyway), there was a laptop on sale for $279 at Best Buy today as one of their Father's day specials.  Considering Dead Red didn't have a CD drive like the new one and he's going from a Netbook to a Laptop, it's kind of an upgrade.  One thing did kind of nag me, though - when I bought it, the gentleman helping me tried to upsell me on an Asus because he said that this particular laptop is the bottom of the bottom and it's not expected to last very long and it is apparently slow when it comes to processing.  Only time will tell and I'm sure Papa Fox won't care since, really, it just needs to last him until he finishes his next spring semester, but it still kind of bugs me. Inception.

Big Boy Bed : Goal

Achievement Unlocked!  Go one full night without climbing into bed with mom and dad.

Yes, we have achieved a small milestone in the transition to Big Boy Bed.  On the evening of June 8, 2013, our little Baby Fox made it through the night in his own bed.  Granted, apparently Papa Fox readjusted him into his toddler bed at one point, but still, it wasn't because he voluntarily got out of bed, so I think it still counts.

One small step at a time and it all adds up to miles in the end.  I'm glad we're slowly making progress, even though the event of going to bed itself is still a struggle, for naps or bed time, we at least have this.  Especially since Baby Fox refused to even nap yesterday and because of that Papa Fox made a remark about how that was the reason he didn't want to move Baby Fox to a toddler bed.  To me, it's a growing pain we'd have to face one way or another so we might as well get it done sooner rather than later.  For now, I'm just going to relish in this small goal and deal with things as they come.

Big Boy Bed Part 1

Isn't that bed frame just amazing?  Considering all the time and effort I put into putting that darn thing together, it sure looks pretty B.A. to me!  (Index: B.A.: Bad A**)

Well, let me start by saying that the move to the Big Boy Bed was with much hesitation from Papa Fox.  Looking at the peaceful Baby Fox sleeping in his bed, it's hard to wonder why, but we made the transition pretty successfully, all things considered. From the start, anyway.

It's barely been one whole day and the Big Boy Bed is completely beyond Baby Fox.  Admittedly, the one amazing thing that was Papa Fox's main concern, wasn't an issue.  He was concerned that Baby Fox would get up and play with his toys in the middle of the night.  Two nights later and it hasn't been the problem.

What is the problem?  Stubborn little Baby Fox doesn't like change.  Funny enough, his very first night in his new bed was completely painless.  We read his books, tucked him in, I sat with him until he rolled over, and left the room without a single peep.  Mind you, he was aware I left the room and still ever so slightly awake, so I didn't coddle him until he fell fast asleep, so I patted myself on the back and figured he must just be ready for his Big Boy Bed.

I must have been very wrong and that night must have been a total fluke.  Nap time the following day was absolutely horrendous, screaming fits galore, but I thought it was because of the loud neighbors who were dumping out their empty soda cans and rustling through them for what seemed to be no other reason than to make an obnoxious amount of noise.  Boy was I wrong, because bed time was just as bad if not worse.

Now, here I sit, in the room with my little Baby Fox because I thought that my presence might help him sleep better in his Big Boy Bed. Wrong again, because as I type this, I can see my now-two-year-old-bundle-of-energy hiding under his blankets and playing with his stuffed animals.  Seriously?!  Those stuffed animals were always there and he never played with them before!

Thus is the start of our Big Boy Bed adventure.  Like everything else in parenthood, I'm going to assume it gets better with time.  Besides, his Big Boy Bed is still at least in the same room as ours (since we don't have an extra bedroom just for him), so it can't be that difficult, right?