le sigh

I'm supposed to be working again, so naturally I'm blogging. No, not really. I don't feel like blogging at all this summer.  Maybe it's the heat. But I don't want to forget stuff so I need to write some of it down.
Travis just went to his 4yr check up and got 4 shots!! My poor little dude! He was miserable all day and milked it for all I was worth.  He got a hot dog, cookies, milk whenever he asked, a rice crispy treat, waffles and bacon and pop tarts for dinner, he got carried everywhere, and got to watch two movies- one in bed with the portable dvd player.  I even managed to carry Chase in the sling so Travis could ride in the cushy stroller on our walk before bed. (Chris was on a business trip) That was quite the workout- whew!
Travis is 32 lbs and 38.75" tall.  He is excited that he is "almost" tall enough for the playground at the aquarium.  Not that I'll let him do it...but 42" gets you into a lot of cool stuff :)  He is 5% for weight and 20% for height and somehow that equates to being 25% BMI. All it means is that he's my child even if he looks nothing like me :)
He is growing up so fast. I don't really miss little Travis, but I wasn't quite ready for him to be the 4 he is. It's like 4 = 7.  He plays xbox games, he does his own laundry, he dresses himself, he's completely potty trained (hallelujah!), he likes to be funny, he is the best driver, he's obsessed with maps and finding how to get places, he can drink from a water bottle w/o spilling.  But 4 is really sweet too. He pretends he has a flock of ducks following him around and a brother named Jason ( he builds Jason stuff with his play tools). I haven't figured out where Jason came from but it's cute! The ducks though, they are getting in the way a LOT. They are constantly in the road when I'm driving and they are terrible at staying under the covers at naptime.  Those pesky ducklings.
My mom gave Travis (really to both boys) a pop up camping tent that came with lots of camping supplies.  We had a tiny sleeping bag leftover from the popup crib we tried out so I gave it to Travis and he has been "camping" all week. Chris is excited to take him camping for real this fall.
This was the first year that Travis had a birthday party with friends. He asked for one and I had said, until he asks, I'm not going to force him/me. Luckily, I think I'll be able to convince him to either a) just have a pool party next year or b) take 1-3 friends somewhere special for his bday. I'd love it if it was just his buddy Ava- she's awesome and we love her parents too so it's a good time for everyone. I'm sure he'll end up with a best buddy from school though so hopefully he has good taste in friends! Haha. I tried my best to make the party fun, but I've never thrown a party before so I had no idea just how early I needed to start putting everything together. On the day of the party, I tried to decorate and fill water balloons, and make cupcakes, and blow up candy balloons...it was just too much. But all the kids had a good time and we survived! I forgot several of the games at the house and my camera so another mama took pictures for me (thank goodness!) I'm really upset with myself for forgetting the camera after seeing the quality of picture her camera takes. But I let it go at the party and didn't get upset so it is what it is.
We had 8 little pirates at the party and baby Cade. I put out bandanas in a bunch of different colors and had foam pirate hats for the kids to decorate with feathers, glitter, stickers, and rhinestones. The girls, of course, wanted to decorate their hats, but no one wanted to wear them.  I thought that was so weird! Maybe it's just an 80s child thing to immediately want to put something on your head ;) I put up streamers and filled black balloons with candy and air.  They were supposed to be cannon balls and we were going to explode them. Turns out even filled to the brim, those Walmart balloons were just too thick so the parents did most of the popping. We had water balloons, which I had made 2d pirate ships for the kids to hide behind and lob their balloons from and forgot them at home too, and only one of the kids knew what to do with them.  They were all throwing them on the ground, which is what Travis does at home too, but I thought with three 6yr olds there, there would be some tossing at each other going on. Nope. They did throw them at Chris though :) Then we raided the pirate treasure chest and there were mardi gras beads and pirate doubloons galore!  Everyone said they liked my cupcakes, yay.  At 4, Travis is a pro at the whole blow out the candle thing. I think I had to light it twice to get the action on film. Luckily (or not?) one of our neighbors smokes and had a lighter because I had forgotten that too. After cupcakes, everyone was silly and piling on a mom or being chased by me. Then one of the kids pulled down the streamers and then all of them started running around tying each other up in them. The mama that took the pictures ran back to the house for me to get a ton of stuff I hadn't gotten to yet, including the goody bags. We passed those out and then it was over. Whew. Over. Sorry Chase, you aren't getting a party for awhile. Travis said he loved his party which makes all the effort my mom and I put into it worth it.  If he want's a party again next year, we are doing a bounce house place. In the AC!!

Happy birthday Tman- I'm so glad you had fun :)