Halloween 2010

Tonight Jared and I spent some time with Annie and a NFL football player. We had so much fun trick or treating. This was the first time that we trick or treated in our neighborhood. There were so many kids and so many houses partcipating. We ran out of candy! Now I have to say the kids did have fun. Kate played the part of Annie. All smiles and a positive attitude. And Carson? Well Carson played the part of a NFL player to the hilt. A bad attitude at times, a roller coaster of emotions, and only getting really happy when he got what he wanted. He did get the hang of it saying, "Tick or teet!" and picking out his own candy. Jared and I used our little secret mood lifter tonight. We like to call it the "Lolly pick me up." Our kids love lollipops. So every now and then we use the lolly to change the mood of the situation.;) So much fun! Here are some pictures from the night with a little irrestible video to start us off from Kate......I mean Annie. Mom, this one is for you!

She did not like the wig.

But I did get a picture. :)

Annie, dancing a little jig.

A Game for the Ages

Two weeks ago I sat on our couch and bought tickets to game 6 of the ALCS. Now mind you this was game 1 in the 8th inning. At that time the Rangers were in serious trouble. They lost that game. At the time I was thinking "Oh please Rangers. All you have to do is win 1 game here in Texas and 1 game in New York." That particular friday night it didn't look good. But lo and behold they DID win the next day and then won 2 out of 3 games in New York. They were in a position to have game 6 be the clincher. With a win in game 6 the Texas Rangers were going to their first ever World Series and Jared and I were going. We sat in the upper homerun porch on row 6. We sat by a family that had been going to Rangers game since their kids were just babies. These kids were in their 30s now.
I will never forget this game. A small storm rolled in right before the game started and dumped some heavy rain on the field. But just as quickly as it rolled in, it rolled right on out. I have never been in such an exciting and electric atmosphere. The crowd was with the Rangers for every out, every hit, every catch, every ball, and every strike. There was no lull in this game. When the Yankees intentionally walked Josh Hamilton (they did that 3 times in this game) to get to Vlad, Vlad made them pay with a double and from then on there was no stopping the Rangers. Fittingly Alex Rodriguez was the last out. When the Rangers won it was just pure jubilation. I hope that these pictures will tell the story of being there. I loved being at that game and never want to forget the feeling of being there when the Rangers won the game that sent them to their first ever World Series.
 

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Regrets

Regrets. I know you're not supposed to have them. But I do. Especially about decisions I made last week. I'm trying to think of a word that sums up last week. And I just can't think of one that is printable here. It was bad. For all the complaining that I do while Jared is away for his work week I would take it all back to have a normal week. It is hard when he is gone and the kids are healthy (Sidenote: I will NEVER think that a week where the kids are healthy and Jared is gone is a hard week) but when the kids are sick? Well, that just takes it to a whole new terrible level. I found that last week everything that you fear about having your husband away can really come true. It was just sickness at our house all week. And with out getting graphic it was sickness that involves a lot of clean up and Lysol. Enough said. Our kids were sick every day last week and then it continued on into the week end. I struggled to make the choices every morning that I HATE. Call into work and be with my babies or push it and let's face it them so that I can get one more day of work in. I was gone from work one day last week. Realistically it should have been 4. My new boss is a nice enough guy but he doesn't have kids. Everyone who has kids knows how unpredictable they can be in the sickness department. Giggly and happy before bed and then up all night. Side question: Why are kids the sickest at night? So I am assuming my boss cannot relate to this and I imagine myself getting lower and lower on his repsect level. But honestly what can I do? This is the constant push and pull that I wrote about in my Tightrope post. Which ironically came right before the horrid week we had last week. And yes, I fell from the tightrope BIG time.
I am shameful about the choices I made for my kids this past week. I will regret it for a long time. These are the kinds of decisions that weigh heavy on my heart and sink me very low into feelings of being a very bad Mommy. Already this week I have been gone from work a day and half. I took a half day yesterday so that I could be with the kids until Jared got home. And today I am home because of me. I was sick all night last night. Of course this only added to my guilt. If my kids were feeling as bad as I was and I sent them to the babysitters anyway? Oh my goodness, what a terrible Mom. I am trying to resolve in my head that from now on no matter what my boss thinks, no matter how many sick days I am trying to save, no matter what I think everyone at work will think of me I will call in when my kids are feeling that bad. If I get fired, then I get fired. But at least it will be for a good reason. I want to have the courage to write my email to my boss with no apologies like I did last week and this week. "I'm so very sorry." I wrote in an email this week. Like I could help the vicious stomach virus that was sweeping our house? I want to have the courage to just write. My son/daughter (or both!) are sick and I need to be at home with them today. Because that is what good Moms do right? They sacrifice the potential of their boss and work colleagues thinking they are a slacker because you are gone from work multiple days a week. They put their kids first priority always no matter what. I wish it were that black and white and it can be if you make it that way and are ready to and brave enough to work through the consequences.

Crib Party

Definitely one of my favorite parts of the week end. Kate invited me in and I just had to do it. Let me tell you if you haven't climbed in a crib with your kids, you are missing out. We had a blast!

Remarkable Randomness

Friday night we went to a high school football game in our area. I was inspired by Kenny Chesney's "Boys of Fall" which I heard driving home from work on Friday. Let me just just say that this is the perfect thing to do with young kids. There are so many things going on to keep them entertained!The band, the pep squad, the cheerleaders, the random dancing kids, and of course the football.  Kate had such a great time taking it all in that she didn't really even notice that she was cuddling with me on my lap for about and hour! Then she wanted to be a big girl and sit on the bleacher by herself with her animal crackers and juice cup sitting beside her. Carson had fun flirting with all of the senior girls we were sitting with and only got the squirmies wormies around the middle of the 3rd quarter! We had such a good family night and will definitely do it again.

I have tried to put some fall decoration up around the house. Not going overboard but enough to know there has been a transition from summer.

I have also enjoyed working on and off on a special little project for the littlest Brednich. My sweet neice Marin is soon to be born around Christmas eve. Girls are hard to come by in our family. In fact Marin is just the 2nd Brednich girl to be born in well...let's see this December it will be 36 years! Here's a little preview of what I have been working on....

And what would a post be with our sweet babies? Carson and Kate seem to be learning new things everyday. We have heard a lot more singing from Carson since he started school. He has proven himself to be a true renaissance man. He loves to care for Kate's little baby dolls even though he has also been  known to drag them on the ground holding them by their ankle. But as this next picture shows he is also adept at mixing his love for sports as well as his Daddy skills. Even if he did....ahem! leave the baby behind. He does have the right idea with bringing the stroller along.

And Kate is becoming quite skilled at getting comfortable wherever she is. All she needs is a blanket and a lillow (as Carson calls it). She created this sweet little set up for herself the other day.

And last, but certainly not least. Jared took the camera to work last week and got some great shots of their rig move. I love asking about all of the ins and outs of his job. It is a fascinating line of work to me. My Dad is in the same line of work on the financial side and I always love to know how it all works. There are a lot of great technical pictures but of course,  these are my 2 favorites. :)



Walking the High Wire

The week that Jared is here is so wonderful. Blissful if you will. Number one is well...he's actually here! I sleep better, I'm calmer, less nervous, everything is better. But when he's gone......well it's a little bit different. At noon on the Monday he leaves it's all up for grabs. I start walking the high wire. I imagine myself walking this very thin tight rope about a zillion feet in the air. Wobbling back and forth catching my balance everyday in different ways. Oh and did I mention I am juggling about 10 different balls trying to keep them all up high in the air? Pretty dramatic analogy, but to me it rings pretty true. I literally just hold my breath until he returns the following Monday, and am so thankful for each "normal" day that I get.

Work is getting more real as I move past the training phase and more into the "prove yourself as to why we  hired you" phase. It is crucial that I am at work and continue to perform. But as any working Mom knows you couple (triple? quadruple?) your thoughts on work with thoughts of your babies. My normal file flow goes like this, "Hmmmmm this is the way I would calculate this income....I wonder how Kate is doing?..I would use this comparable for the value.....man, that was so funny when Carson made that funny face at bedtime......this credit report is rough......how can I get Kate and Carson to eat better? " And on and on it goes. I am settling in very well to my job. I really like the people I work with and am blessed with good management. We are so blessed to have Kate and Carson in such a good childcare situation. They stay with a very good friend for part of the week and then go to our church preschool 2 days a week. I can't tell you what a relief it is to see Kate and now Carson turn to wave at me and tell me in the most non chalant manner "Bye!" when I drop them off at our friend's house each morning . Peace of mind times 1 million! So tomorrow I take one big deep breath in and hold it again until next Monday when Jared makes his way back to us. Along the way God offers me chances to relax and I try to take them in but sometimes I am just not sure. Afraid to be so confident. Fearful that I will lose my balance and drop all of the balls. But I always know that no matter how badly I stumble in all of this I know that God is there to dust me off and pick me up and set me back up there again. I remember after one big exhausting night one night when Jared was gone. I had just put Kate to bed and made it to the middle of the stairs before sitting down and I just started praying, "God please don't leave me! I need you!" Of course he heard me and the very next morning I received the second wind that I so desperately needed. I always think of my good friend Taylor when I am encountering a week with out my husband. She endures long periods of separation from her husband due to the fact that he is a marine. She sent me a text one week seemingly out of the blue but God knows different. I was coming around the bend on a particularly trying week and her text came in around Friday night, "Finish strong!" it said. That's all I needed to pick myself up and keep on going. I always keep that text in the back of my mind.