Living, Loving, Learning

It was a no-good, terrible, awful, hideous, very bad weekend. I felt like quiting...this Mama stuff almost got the best of me. I thought it was bad on Saturday morning after missing a night sleep because Griffin was up numerous times with a stomach virus but it just got worse...a lot worse. Late Saturday morning Griffin was sitting on our bed watching a movie and suddenly just fell off the side. I don't know if he was trying to lay down or was groggy/dizzy or what but he screamed...loud! I knew right away he was hurt because he is a pretty tough kid and usually just "shakes it off" when he falls but this was different. As I was comforting him he relaxed and fell asleep and I thought maybe he just bruised himself but he woke up during his nap crying and telling me his shoulder hurt. I called the doctor and they told me to go to the E.R. Bruce was at his internship so he hit the road right away and we met up at the hospital. Luckily, the staff there was kind, quick and effi...

Well, hello there. Welcome to the utterly exhausted, heavy eye lidded, almost grumpy Mama Gast blog. Now that Griffin has the freedom to get out of bed he is choosing to do so at like 5:45 each morning. I can sometimes get him to snuggle in bed with me for another 15 minutes or so (15 GOLDEN minutes) but even that seems fleeting. I am starting to feel like I did when I was in the newborn zone ! Bruce is in a crush right now as the semester is coming to a screeching halt here in a couple of weeks and is trying to get his internship done ASAP so he is up and gone early each morning. Luckily we both have tomorrow off and we can catch up on some sleep (napping in shifts maybe??)! It hasn't been all bad though. Auntie Lexi came to town this week. I picked her up late Tuesday night and was able to have her stay with us until Thursday morning. She had to get on another plane on Friday -- lucky girl is going to meet our baby girl Alethia and stay with the Amors in Germany. We had a great t...

So, it has been a tough week here for Mama Gast. Griffin has been sick all week and I took him to the doctor on Wednesday. He has the beginning stages of strep throat. So, 2 days and 2 prescriptions later, we are finally making the turn for the better. A sick temperamental 2 1/2 year old is not a beast I would subject anyone to!! On the up side, last weekend we converted his bed to a day bed with great success. He is sleeping well in it and has even gotten up in the middle of the night to go potty and went back to bed on his own. I am really enjoying all of these little steps toward his maturity and growth. We have spent a ton of time inside this week (his being sick and the - 10 weather outside) and have worked on learning to use scissors, making things with play dough (versus just balling up each color and then moving on to the next) and reading books. His latest favorite quote is "Run, Run, Run, as fast as you can...you can't catch me, I'm the stinky cheese man" wh...

This week our play group went to the Detroit Science Center. It was a really great time...don't get me wrong, play dates at the mall and at homes are fun, but I love to get Griffin out to see new things. Because he does not attend daycare, I feel a large responsibility to expose Griffin to lots of different people, places and things constantly. Anyways, our group was able to attend a show at the planetarium and saw a short movie about the basics...sun, moon, big and small dippers. It was a Mr. Roger's theme which was kind of funny in a kitschy way and definitely more fondly regarded by the Moms rather than the kids. I hadn't thought about King Friday and Lady Elaine in a long time. All of the kids loved it except Griff. We kind of scarred him in November, taking him to see the penguin movie at the IMAX theatre. Besides 3 or 4 bouts of crying we made it through the movie and then were off to enjoy the rest of the center. They had an awesome children's area where they...